The Great Perhaps that Was

Almost nine months between posts is a long silence, but I finally had the time and energy to break it. The blog will be back, but for now I’ll just stick to a general update. I hope the few people who do follow this will continue to enjoy it, and I promise not to let another 9 months pass.

The fall and winter proved trying. Both of our jobs were time consuming, and we were both working 7 days a week (but only getting paid for 5).  We love our new jobs, but every major change has a break-in period and this one left more than a few blisters on our sanity.

In October, we found out that the owner of our rental home was short selling it – leaving us in a crunch to find a new home and fight the complete invasion of privacy that came with showing a home that was not ours. It was a complete pain, but in the end we did find a home and moved in December – right in the middle of the season.

Speaking of the season, it was Epic. I could not even recount how many powder days we had because most of our days were powder days – including yesterday, May 21, 2011. A few weeks ago, Snowbird broke its record for yearly snowfall, and the resort is still going strong. So far, we have 51 days in the ticker, and that will only increase. Every day was a day of big mountain riding. We even learned to use beacons and probes along the way.

The summer will bring a huge list of do-it-yourself renovations, gardening, hiking, and visiting with friends; it will be a welcome respite to a very long year. I thought that when I moved to the mountains, I would mourn winter – like I did in Michigan. But I’m excited. There is so much to do here, and the beauty still strikes me on my simple drive to work as the sun rises over Ogden’s mountains.

The other day, we were sitting around, drinking wine and making dinner after a great day on the slopes. The kitties were nestled on their respective perches and the sun was setting, casting an amazing purple glow on the mountains off our back porch. This quote from the film American Beauty kept running through my head:

“I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life...”

and that’s what the Great Perhaps feels like to me.