Mountains

You who are fortunate enough to live within the sight of Mountains, I envy you. I didn't travel much at all when I was young. Until I got married, I had only been out of the state about twice, and then just to Illinois and Michigan. The first time I went out West was in 1993. When we got to Montana, where I had my very first encounter with real Mountains, it was love at first sight!

Mountains. What is is about them? I don't know. Recently I wrote about getting out into the woods. I do love woods. I can't imagine not living where there are woods to ramble in. But oh, how I would love to live within a hour's drive of some beautiful mountains.

In October of 2008 we traveled to Calgary, Alberta Canada. Jay had closed down and sold his cabinet shop in July of that year. We had posted his resume on Monster. A head hunter from Texas found it. She was looking to fill a position up in Fort Macleod, near Lethbridge in Alberta Canada. After many phone calls between the headhunter, and then the business owner, we decided to go up for an in person interview.  Fort Macleod was a town that would really remind you of something from a Texas western. I did have a picture of the bar where we stopped to eat there, which really looked like something out of an old Western. And the wind the first day we were there was tremendous. The interview was extensive, and I was there for the whole thing. Fort Macleod was within sight of mountains, but it wasn't like Calgary, where we were staying.

After that first day of the interview, we decided to to see Banff. Well, I tell you the truth, if I could transport myself to favorite places where I have been in the blink of an eye (you know, like "I Dream Of Genie" style), the place I would go first and stay the longest would be Banff! It is surrounded by the Great Canadian Rocky Mountains. The city itself is pristine. The possibility for wildlife sightings are tremendous, and maybe a little frightening. (I have always been afraid of bears!) Did I mention that is positively surrounded by mountains? (Yes, I did.) The pictures that we took there are amongst my most favorite pictures that I own. My only sorrow is that we did not have any of our kids with us, so it's just Jay and me in the photos.

Jay was not finally selected for the job in Fort Macleod. He was offered a job in a cabinet shop in Calgary. That company put in paper work with the government and we started preparing to move to Alberta. But, alas, the government papers came back that the company must try harder to fill the position with a Canadian. So, our dreams of moving to Calgary and living near Banff turned to just so much dust.

Sometimes, when I think about how excited I was to be moving to Canada, I think that it was just wonderlust. Any place other than here is more exciting to be. When you grew up here, anywhere seems better than here. But I still think that I would like to live every day where I could look out my window and see mountains. I know that some people feel that way about the Ocean. Some people feel that way about lakes. And those are great places, too. I have never been to Hawaii. Maybe I would feel the same about that.
But, when you consider natural disasters, especially in light of recent events, oceans, to me, are a little more frightening. Earthquakes move mountains, I guess. In the end, maybe no place is really safe from natural disasters. You just have to be ready to survive or not.

Anyway, I hope someday to live near mountains. I am still considering the idea of moving to Alberta. If that can't work, we do have a dear friend and the best man from our wedding that lives in Idaho. I think that might be a good place to build our final home. I don't know. We may just be in Indiana until we die. But it doesn't hurt to dream of something different, does it? I will always dream of living in those mountains!