Winter Winter Go Away

I know I keep talking about this, but I am so done with winter. I am sick to death of it this year. My body is screaming for the warm summer nights.

I don’t know if any of you have ever been to Montana in the summer time, but it is really beautiful. It stays light here until around 10:00pm. It stays warm all night, and is reminiscent of my youth growing up in the desert. The warm nights were you could walk outside naked and not feel anything because the air was as warm as body temperature. It’s like that here, except better. It’s better because I now live up on a mountain, with a view of the entire valley before me. I can sit out on my deck at night, with a drink, and watch the valley lights twinkling. I can sit on my deck and watch the herds of deer and elk wander through my yard at night, looking for something to graze on. I can ride my lawn tractor around my yard, with my iPod on, and tune out the world.

This is all done on my one acre of land. I’ve never had this much land. I really love it. I Have a garden that is fenced off from the munching deer. I have a fire pit we built with rocks we scavenged out of the mountains.
I have little metal forks to roast marshmallows on and make smores at night. I don’t know how on earth I got lucky enough to live where I do, but I did.

I was driving down the freeway (interstate here) the other day, and realized for the first time in my life, I have no other place I want to live. That I really like living here, and am sure I will live here for the rest of my life. It’s letting me, also for the first time in my adult life, really form some strong friendships. I’m becoming part of this community. I go to Walmart (can you tell I go to Walmart a lot?) and constantly run into people I know. I go to Target, same thing, anywhere I go, I usually see someone I know. This is so new to me, since I’ve lived in the city for so long, if I did happen to see the same person twice, I would never acknowledge it.

I never thought I would want to live someplace like this, but now that I’m here, I can feel my roots starting to go deeper than they ever have before.

I remember the first time I came here on vacation, I felt like the wicked city woman. My husbands friends would ask...”don’t you want to move here?”, and my standard answer was “hell no”...no way...no how.... will you ever get me out of the city. It’s funny how five years and having a baby will make a liar out of you huh?

I should add, that the wind is blowing tonight, not just blowing, howling, and I’m thinking I might need to add some whiskey to my Diet Coke...:)

Peace,

OC