SNOW MEMORIES AND REFLECTIONS: Remembering Barbara Waters

It is snowing heavily. I got up early this morning, whisked snow off the car and shoveled the walks. I was thinking about the memorial service in Arroyo Seco for Barbara Waters the wife and soul partner of well known author Frank Waters. I hoped to attend this memorial with PQ. However, as the snowflakes intensified their assault I suspected that it was too much snow and cold air for his lungs and thus wasn’t really surprised when he decided not to go, besides by the time he got up and had his coffee it was getting late, so I said some prayers and imagined her being happily reunited with Frank under the aspen trees in El Salto before they begin their next adventure in space/time.

A good beginning

Barbara is one of the special people of Taos who were always on the outer edge of my Taos experience. I knew her casually. Once we shared membership in a group that met at a mutual friend’s house back in the 90’s, and occasionally I saw her at a coffee shop/bakery in Arroyo Seco. We knew each others name and shared some acquaintances, recognized a certain energetic connection with related stories, but never became close friends. Somehow, activities in our everyday lives went down two streams that never merged. It was as if the connecting piece of a picture puzzle we both lived in was never located within the time limits of this incarnation.  Nevertheless, I always valued her presence in my Taos picture.

Two years ago, Mark Gordon and his cameraman had PQ join them for an interview with Barbara concerning Frank’s relationship with Tony Lujan for the movie he is producing about Mabel Dodge Lujan and Tony Lujan. Of course, I tagged along and after the interview, Barbara graciously shared the history of Frank’s many artifacts adorning the walls and hanging from ceiling vigas of their old El Salto adobe. I knew, more familiarly, her half Coyote dog, Trickster who liked to visit the Seco bakery for croissants and attention. Isn’t that a typical Taos anomaly?

Another visit a few months later was the last time we saw Barbara although I often thought of her. Mark gave me a copy of her autobiography at that time, and I remember thinking that it was a shame that she hadn’t promoted her own abilities as well as Frank’s. The book was chock full of anecdotes, memories and pure Taos flavor written with heart and wry humor.

Thinking of Barbara Waters pulls me into the very heart of my Taos life. I remember my surprise at discovering, upon moving to Taos that an author that had significantly influenced my life lived in this town and even more importantly was associated with Mabel Dodge and Tony Lujan, historic figures intimately related to my new Taos family. It all made up a seductively complex net of synchronistic connections.

It has always amazed me, how often we stumble blindly into places and people that link us to a multifaceted sphere of interconnected life events. When our heart moves us to another place, we discover yet another circlet of intertwined associations. Truly, earth time is a puzzling illusion. Nevertheless, it is an exciting show as we move from episode to episode; even better than Downton Abby.