Home Grown: Part I

Oh what do you do in the summer time,

When all the world is green...

Do you fish in a stream,

Or lazily dream...

And watch as the clouds roll by?

Is that what you do?

So do I! 

In May of 2008

I quit my secure job with benefits...a field of expertise

that I had been around for almost 20 years,

and followed my husband to Idaho.

We became the General Managers of a 100 year

old resort, and on June 10, of that same year

we woke up to 11" of new snow .

We were in for the adventure of a lifetime...if truth be

known, it would be more excitement, heartache,

sorrow, frustration, disillusionment and JOY, to fill several lifetimes.

OH: the ride of it all...

Would I choose to experience this

again, if I could?  Absolutely!  There is only one thing that triumphs

heartache, and that is overcoming it...and everything in

between shall be added unto you. 


I am a mother of five, 
Nana to 10,
wife to one, for 40 + years. 



I thought that life had schooled me in just about everything it could up to that point, boy was I mistaken.


As a team we learned fast, that you are never to old to learn new tricks, 
that adult children, who should "know better"
sometimes don't.   
Saying "I forgive you"...and meaning it are on different planets.


As an individual I learned that every single day, we are blessed with a sunrise we did not ask for, and that, in itself is magic.


***

Stay away from what might have been
and LOOK for what can be.


We wrestled with cantankerous customers, and rowdy guests and wonderful return visits!  We grappled with pipes, and cabins
that had seen a 100 years of manipulation, rebuilding, and lots and lots of
 "a promise and a lick!"

We realized that the value of a dollar has no meaning
when there is not a dollar to spend and
that pure determination, elbow grease, some giggles with guarded expletives
always generate miracles, even in the smallest of ways.


***

I was hired as the Hospitality specialist.
I loved it!  I embraced it...and came to know intimately a
true generosity of the human spirit.


 The first time a "guest" told me he was going to come across the counter and kick my ass, I stopped him dead in his tracks by saying, " Your Mother, would be so ashamed of you right now."
He simply turned around and left, later to return
and pay his bill in full, with a very sincere
apology.



We rented out boats, canoes, tubes and rafts to float the 
Henry's Fork River.
It was so rewarding to help families and individuals create, or relive memories.


That being said, it sometimes became a THREE RING CIRCUS
in fulfilling the demands.  For the most part, the public
played by the rules, and waited for returning rafts and then would come in and purchase a trip.


My first year orchestrating this was character building.
At one point over the Fourth of July weekend,
I had two men, beginning to go
fist to cuffs, as to who was supposed to be called up next.


The GM, heard the ruckus, walked in, and escorted them outside.  That was after, I had told these ruffians, that the Sheriff was my best friend, and  had already been buzzed, to come and give them a ride off the mountain.


Believe it or not, everyone was able to return to a state of sanity.
ALL INVOLVED, eventually apologized to one another
and ended up riding the river.  (These were grown men, fighting in front of their wives and children)!


We were a force to reckoned with in helping families pull off
reunions.  I made so many new friends.


My intrigue was with the men and women who walked the Continental Divide...a trek from New Mexico to Canada, which they would start in the early spring and hope to finish before the snow started in the fall.  Our resort was listed on the mapping they used.  We had showers and a laundromat that was available to everyone.  
We met the most amazing individuals.


Nuclear scientists, who were trying to decide if they wanted to continue on in their field or go home and write stories for children.


Men from Israel who were so war weary...that they were not sure if they should return to the home of their Fathers.  Feeling like their chances of survival would be greater if they  played Russian  Roulette.


Photographers, who were following specific hikers, and creating a documentary.


And
people who enjoyed challenging themselves, to see if they could complete over a thousand miles of trekking, sleeping in every conceivable element, eating whatever you were willing to carry with you... overcoming fears of the UNKNOWN.


Life, is that in a nutshell~because no matter how much you think you may have it planned and figured out, eventually you will
get a curve ball thrown at you.


Better to practice knowing how to take it over the fence, or learn to live with the strike.


*** 


The year of a thousand tears
 started for us in 2010.


Within a few months time, we lost our beloved hound of 14 years,
my sweet Mother, our son-in-law to a head on collision,
a courageous brother-in-law to cancer,
and
our youngest son, to the ravages of prescription addiction. 


***

We were so busy burying loved ones, we had no time to grieve.

Dang, that sounds so callous, but it was the truth.
And yet, simple acts of kindness, from stranger or friend,
became the glue to our hearts.


One guest heard about the loss of my Mom, and dropped by just as I was closing up one evening.  She approached me at the counter with tears in her eyes and removed  the most beautiful
and exotic locket from around her neck, no words were needed as she gently gave it to me.  She was from Romania, and spoke very 
broken English.  Our hearts and tears spoke the 
same language.


Flowers, food, and little notes were always showing up
at the most crazy places.  

People would come by and just hang out at the front desk in our office, with ice cream dripping down their arms holding the
cones of gooey goodness,  until we could take a break and eat it.

Goodness is universal.
Goodness matters. 


There is so much to this part of my story.
I hope you will return,
to know...
that, sometimes there is nothing grand about
overcoming heartache... sometimes, it's just in
allowing a total stranger
or absolute friend
help you.

There will come a time when you think everything

is finished!  

That will be the beginning...