~the summer of my remembrance~

Good evening dear friends and family and greetings with best wishes from along the western slopes of Colorado.  The monsoon rains have stopped for now having come along just like "clock work" this afternoon in the mid-day hours.  It's weird you know, to see the rain come up here in the mountains.  Surely has been a whole new experience for me, a "flatlander" and transplant to this area of the world.  There's a pretty stiff breeze blowing now out of the east and the windsocks, well they are flying like crazy.  The old cottonwood tree next to the clothesline is making its rustling sound, one that has always made me happy to hear.  We did get some moisture and for the least of things, the folks around here give thanks.  With wildfires still very active in the surrounding locales, every drop of water is needed badly and you end up thinking twice about wasting any of it.

The summer of 2013 is racing by and it will definitely go down in the books as one most memorable for me.  I think I shall always remember it as the summer I never realized that I would have.  It has been a "trying" one and I would be surely not telling the truth if I said otherwise.  There have been several mountains to climb and I'm not talking about the geographical ones here, although they too have offered their own challenges.  As Mike and many of my friends and family have reminded me, I have put myself through a lot of changes~and not just a change every other month or so, but rather a bunch of changes that came flying at me all at once.  When I have mentioned to people here in Montrose about leaving Kansas and heading out 611 miles to the west to live, they have said that I have a lot of courage.  Many have said that they couldn't do that, not even to marry someone.  I have never really considered just how brave a person would have to be to do what I have done.  Usually I would "poo-poo" that notion about myself, that whole "being brave" idea.  But you know what?  It did take a lot of courage to do this, to come here, to give up one life in exchange for a new one and I guess they were right, I did have courage.  But I'm not the only one~if you are reading this, then the same thing can be said of you.  

All of us have to summon up our "guts" and go through tremendous trials in this life of ours.  Maybe you have had the sad experience of losing a spouse or a child and had to continue on alone in this life of ours.  You might have lost your job and been without a steady pay check, trying to support your family on a little bit of nothing.  Perhaps you are suffering from the effects of illnesses, some of them terminal, yet continue on you always do.  For some people (me included), sometimes just getting out of bed in the morning to face the unknown that lies ahead can be a real scary thing.  But we do it, day in/day out, because what else can you do?

It has been the summer of "firsts" for me~seeing two baby raccoons in the front yard only to watch them die and burying them both the next day, being a witness to a daily steady parade of deer coming through the alfalfa patch, scouring the skies for signs of the smoke of wildfires, and a dozen gazillion other things that I had never been exposed to in my 57 years of life.  I have had the chance to learn more about geography in 6 weeks time of living here than I ever attempted to learn in 7th grade social studies class back at Haven Grade School.  I have found out that sometimes things don't work as well as a person would like for them to and that Russian Mammoth sunflowers don't grow so tall here in Colorado as they do in Kansas. But perhaps the greatest thing I have learned is that things work a whole lot better when people work together on the same side.  

The remainder of summer, well it's gonna be flying by and over before we know it.  Just two weeks from tonight I'll be far, far from here in Montrose as I fly to the Puget Sound area of Washington State to attend my oldest son's wedding.  So very thankful that he found a wonderful young woman to choose as a wife and although it will be a teensy bit sad, as it often is when our kids move along in life, I will be so happy for them both.  I'm glad to be able to at least get the chance to spend a few days there with them before heading back to the state of Colorado.  

Well, darkness is getting ready to fall over the mountains here and it looks like another storm is coming our way soon.  Back home in Hutchinson the temperature is standing at 91 degrees and the good people of the "Salt City" are readying themselves for bed this night.  I miss them and our town~I think of my old home each and every day.  In a couple of weeks, Mike and I are making the journey back home to visit our families and have a few days of time off from life here.  I'm really grateful to not have to make the trip alone and it will be a whole lot nicer to have Mike to talk to rather than chatting with myself.  :)  

I wish for you all a good night's rest and a great weekend ahead of us.  I don't tell you near enough that I am glad that you are my friends~consider it said by me this night.  Take care of yourselves and one another as you summon up the courage to face the challenges that the days sometimes bring.  Whatever it is that you must go through, remember that we are all in this thing together.  I draw a lot of strength just from knowing that my friends.  May you as well.  Good night!

                                                The hallways of Haven High School