The Big Valley

Researchers say that a person always returns to the place they were conceived. My father decided to share that little bit of information with me and let me tell you that’s just not something you need to hear from your dad. A definite example of TMI - too much information. We all know that our parents never had sex. That’s just way too painful to even think about.

Having said all that, South Fork, Colorado has always seemed like home to me so maybe he is right. Again, TMI. Having taken on a nomadic lifestyle, I have had the opportunity to live for months at a time in different locales and enjoy the sights, sounds and food offered by each. I never do feel quite at home however and always long for the familiarity of our mountains.

Now, my path has crossed many a people in the wide world outside the Valley who seem generally dissatisfied with their current living situation. I had a cow like that. No matter how good the grass she had in my pasture or feed in the trough, she always thought that the grass was greener on the other side. Across the fence she would be seen munching on yucca plants and weeds all the while lush green grass awaited her in my fields.

Which brings to mind another story about greener or in this case, bluer grass. We took a drive up the Bachelor Loop above Creede last summer and smack dab in the middle of the old town site there was a blue ring of grass. It was perfectly formed and in a circle about 30 feet circumference.

Trixie and I walked over and investigated and I am not saying it was caused by a UFO but she did glow in the dark for several months afterward. She made for a great yard light at picnics but I had to wrap her in a blackout blanket at night. I didn’t seem to have any lasting side effects unless you count the hair growing on my tongue as a negative thing?

 Back to being “home.” People used to settle down pretty close to where they were born and live next to family and longtime friends. Often now kids move far away chasing jobs and dreams or love. Jobs and dreams are great but love, on the other hand, often runs away from you at the most inopportune time.

Choosing where to live is difficult but several things need to be considered when you finally decide to call a place home. One is the desirability of your location for family members’ vacation destinations. Living in a tourist heavy location just about guarantees visits from family and friends for a free vacation. Free to them that is.

My friend moved to Salida and ran the Sears Outlet Store there. He related to me that he never knew he had so many friends and family until he moved there. Summer and winter their house was full of noisy, smelly people who being on vacation, insisted they stay up late, eat out a lot and generally run up huge heating and electrical bills. Television schedules were destroyed while Uncle Bill and Aunt Martha watched Wheel of Fortune, Idol and Dancing with the Stars nonstop. The only break he got was when the remote went out which often resulted in his making a late night run to the store for more batteries.

We all know that house guests are like fish – they start to smell after a while. There is nothing much you can do about it short of moving away and leaving no forwarding address but with the advent of the Internet, they can always find you.

Trixie is the ultimate inviter, too. No matter where we go she invites everyone to visit us here in Colorado. No thought is given to where they might sleep and I guess a woman who sleeps on Sherpa Tea House floors in Nepal really can’t consider the genteel nature of most Americans when it comes to accommodations. When she started offering up my bed saying I can sleep on the couch, push came to shove and we had what is considered “an understanding.”

So if you are feeling the itch to move and don’t want the constant parade of yelling, half-dressed kids or having to negotiate Uncle Bills tidy whities  and Aunt Martha’s matronly sized brassier hanging in the hallway to dry, consider the Gobi Desert or other such destinations. Or simply bite the bullet and ask your parents where you were conceived and move there as that’s where you will end up anyway.