The Ghost of Borrego

What is a Ghost of Borrego? First let me backup. When I moved to Nashville and finally had time to spend doing other things than school work(plus having only about five friends that work multiple jobs and rarely have time off helps), I found myself doing two things a whole lot more: Reading and Writing. When I would read a book, I started writing down my own thoughts which was something I hadn’t really done before, giving me a new way to express all my questions and doubts about life. That’s where the name Ghost of Borrego came from. As I wrote song after song I realized I wanted a more interesting publishing name rather than Rex Landis Music. So what is a Ghost of Borrego? I grew up going with my family to the Anza-Borrego desert where we would spend New Years or President’s day offroading and then around a campfire at night. That tradition would eventually petter out, especially since we have all dispersed across the country. My parents retired to Idaho, my brother and, as of June 10, 2023, his wife to Utah and myself to Music City. Those initial months out here in Tennessee were difficult to navigate due to: (1) a new job, (2) not being in school for the first time in a while, (3) not knowing anyone when I moved out here. That’s when I learned about the extended concept of what a ghost is. The oxford dictionary gives a few definitions. The first is one we all have heard: “an apparition of a dead person”. Fair enough. But the second was the most enlightening for me: “a faint trace of something”. In a way, I was the ghost of the kid that grew up in Southern California going to Anza-Borrego. I was the Ghost of a kid that was fearless and thought he had it all figured out. I was the Ghost of Borrego. I don’t think this is a bad thing, because as we grow, while we lose traces of what we once were, we are also becoming who we are supposed to be.