So, it is official...the house is sold. We will be leaving by the end of the month and the house will close very soon after. I wanted to get my thoughts down about this move. First, Star Valley has been the closest thing to a home for me that I have had other than New York. It is a safe and honest place to be. Eight years is the longest I have ever stayed in one place. I could see my kids graduating with the same kids they went to first grade with. I saw a future here, that was a new feeling. The safety you feel in a small community I am sure to find in other towns, but the safety of being hugged by a massive mountain range is different. If the rest of the world would shut down I know that my family would be safe here. That is going to be a tough one to get over. And then there are the schools. They are very well funded and the teachers are all great. I have been told that a private education is not as good as what we get here...(thanks to the taxes big oil pays to lease land in Wyoming). I am going to miss my 2 acres that the kids can play on, the quite and large neighborhood they ride around in and are safe in. (not to mention not having to pick up my dogs poop, because he goes out in the field) I am going to miss the seeing the mountains from every angle and I am really going to miss the summers in the valley. I am going to miss the smell of being in the mountains and pine trees every time I walk out of my door. The mountain streams and valleys 5 minutes away are priceless. I will miss the friends I have made. Most of them are more like family because those of us in the small valley with out extended family around have banded together.
Second, I am not going to miss only having a Family Dollar and one grocery store that closes at 8 p.m. every night. I am not going to miss seeing people you know every where you go...this makes a short grocery store visit a long grocery store visit. Along those lines, I am not going to miss knowing every person you pass on the road and realizing that they are waving to you just late enough to make you look rude for not waving back. I am not going to miss driving 2 hours for orthodontist and doctor visits. I am not going to miss driving 4 hours to the nearest airport so that I can fly home to see my family. I am not going to miss the 7 months of snow. I know I won't miss small minded things that happen in close communities...let me add that I am sure I will find it in other places. It just takes a while to find when your new:) I am not going to miss rodeos....and cowboy hats. I am not going to miss Maverik.
So, for the time I got to spend in Smoot and Afton, Wyoming....I am grateful. Home. I hope to return someday. Adieu...
