Being at Home in the Mountains
The decision to “end” the 5-month beach section of our ~year abroad comes with lots of interesting new perspectives: of my life, what I enjoy, and why. When we arrived in Mexico City we both felt VERY called to be back home – we were homesick. When we asked each other what we were homesick for (since neither of us really have a home to go back to), we both said that we missed the mountains and wanted to be near them. For me, I miss not just the mountains…but the Colorado mountains to be specific. You know how if you go to another mountain range in the world it just looks…different? I don’t want another country’s different-looking mountains, I want Colorado’s. That is a fun revelation for two reasons:
I’ve become aware of and comfortable with the fact that I prefer to spend a bulk of my time in the mountains rather than on the ocean. Since I left Thailand in 2016 I’ve always thought that I would end up making my permanent residence somewhere near the sea – because I’ve been a water baby since birth. My late grandfather (nicknamed the Fishing Farmer) had a boat in Ft. Lauderdale, my mom spent 25 years there, and I lived there until I was 8. Fun story: when I was a child I wrote this lovely poem / essay about wanting to be surrounded by water and rubber.) Like I said, water baby. I didn’t see the mountains until after I graduated college – so it just took me a bit more time to accept them, I guess. Spending the past 2 summers in the van has really solidified that my peace and ease happens when in the mountains – big trees, hard hikes, still forests, tiny creeks – those are what me feel whole. Which makes sense – we are animals that are meant to live outside; only in recent human history have we confined ourselves constantly inside 4 walled structures. If you’d ask me what time period I would live in if I could chose any: my answer is a north American native tribe at it’s peak – hunting, gathering, raising a family in a community, and living off the land. That sounds wild and perfect. But capitalism is kind of great too – I love a king sized mattress and a machine that keeps my out-of-season-shipped-halfway-across-the-world strawberries cold too. I’m not above it.
Colorado feels like home. I moved to Colorado in 2013 and have called it home since then except for a 2 year stint backpacking, a short 6-month Chicago recurrence, and this trip…but I’ve always kind of thought it would be a stepping stone to somewhere else, but I don’t know why. There really isn’t anywhere in the US that rivals Colorado: incredible backcountry, like-minded people, a city large enough to be interesting but not so interesting as to distract you from the outdoors. It’s comforting to know that I want to call Colorado home for a very long time. Will I cheat on it some? Probably for a few years here and there, but my a large chunk of my heart will always lie somewhere near Colorado.
Ophir Pass, Colorado
So what are my upcoming plans?
May – visit lots of friends (2 new babies!) and family in Denver, Minneapolis, Indiana, and New Mexico
June – live in Silverthorne, CO
July – run a trail 10K, road trip through Jackson, the Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier, and attend Parker’s brother’s wedding
August – throw another “Rave in the Woods” party in Washington then travel to Santiago, Chile to ski for a few weeks
September – Euro-trip, 30-year old style. Barcelona for a few weeks for tapas and siestas, Oktoberfest with friends, London to visit Maddie, etc. Parker might squeeze in a hike through Portugal with his mom and a climbing trip in Greece with his outdoor partner Lauren
October – move to Denver, buy a house, rejoin the workforce, and NEST
Beyond – lots of new-homeowner nesting, recreating in the high country, running, growing my career, deepening my yoga practice, and reconnecting with my community.