Getting Back to Nature

I can honestly say this last week has been one of the hardest weeks in my life. Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but not much. It was midterms in school, I had a deal I had to finish up so it could close, and another listing we got an offer on, but with a lease attached. So quite honestly, between school, work, kids, and a trash eating dog….I was completely up to the eyeballs in stress. I think the whole week I slept a combined total of eight hours.

So, when my friend Nick suggested that we go stay in his parents’ cabin in Wyoming, it sounded so inviting. We knew there was a storm blowing in this weekend, but thought if we got ahead of it and made it to the cabin by Friday night, we would not have to brave the untended Wyoming roads.

Friday was spent trying to finish homework, while prepping food for the weekend. It was a little time consuming, and more stress, but I just knew that in the end I would be happy with the time spent ahead so my work at the cabin would be greatly reduced. I was further stressed Friday because I had to break a dinner and drinks date with one of my favorite people in the whole word, and was feeling rather guilty and selfish over that whole ordeal.

But anyway, Friday night finally came, and we pulled out around 8:00 p.m. I still had homework to do, studying the poll numbers before and after each presidential debate, and trying to decide if the debates actually affected the candidate’s poll numbers. (My conclusion, of course, is that the numbers did change after each debate, although I’m hesitant to say it’s BECAUSE of the debate. I’m more tempted to say it has to do with SNL, Katie Couric, and an incredibly unpolished, inexperienced, trained monkey…and keep in mind that I am a Republican). So all the way up to Wyoming I had to work on the laptop, while everybody else in the Suburban got to drink cocktails. But finally we pulled into Evanston and it was time to get a drinkin’.

The first night at the cabin, we all just drank a little, but couldn’t really see the view. But Saturday morning, when I crawled out of bed, went into the main chamber of the cabin and looked out the window at the gorgeous view, I was instantly at peace with the world. It’s fall here and the Quakies are a brilliant yellow right now. There is a pond immediately behind the cabin. Plus of course, an abundance of pine or fur, or whatever kind of coniferous trees they were. It’s absolutely breathtaking.

After a couple games of cribbage, and a game of “dradle, dradle, ladle”, we got busy napping/watching movies/relaxing. Which was really nice, but it had started snowing, and I just felt a need to get outside. So mid afternoon, I put on my sexy long johns, snow pants, and Nick and I headed out. First stop was to a family that lives on the other side of the highway from the cabin.

When we first walked up to the house (pretty sure it’s a doublewide with a foundation, but not sure…), a young kid came out of this ginormous garage. Which, in true Wyoming style was bigger than the house. So we went into the garage and visited with Scott and his brother who were working on fixing stuff. After drinking a beer out there, we went into the house to see the new baby, and to meet the rest of the family. Well, I was meeting them. Obviously Nick already knew them.

Upon entering the house, cigarette smoke assaulted my nose. So, my first thought, of course, was I couldn’t believe they had a new baby in that environment. But, that’s the snob/mom in me. The house is kinda dark, and there is a lot of clutter in the kitchen, the kitchen table is piled high with mail and bills. There’s a boy on the couch, who didn’t look to be more than fourteen, but who, I found out a bit later, is stoned. I actually forgot he was there. I don’t think he moved a muscle the whole entire time we were there. The baby was adorable, of course. I resisted the urge to ask if I could hold her, because she’s only five days old and I would never have let some stranger coming in from the woods hold one of my babies. Although, in hindsight, I don’t think it would have been that big of a deal.

There is so much I want to say about this visit, but I think I will just bullet point a couple of highlights:
-The matriarch of the family has to go to court for throwing a rock at somebody who was lost and drove up on their property.
-There was a bumper sticker on the fridge that said “Uncle Sam wants YOU to speak English” or something like that.
-Pantyhose work almost as well as long johns and don’t bunch.
-The baby’s name was something like Sylvania, Salvannah, some sort of hybrid hick name.
-One can immediately bond with someone over alcohol. Once the “timber witch” aka, the “twitch witch” realized that I like to drink Captain Morgan’s Spiced rum, I was her BEST friend.
-They freeze their bread.
But the main point I want to make here, is that these people live the simplest of lives. The Timber Witch spends all her time at home, from what I can gather anyway, hates the snow (may I point out here, she lives in the Uintah mountains….) doesn’t like cities, and this family seems to be one of the closest families I’ve met in a long time. I actually really, really enjoyed my visit.

After some time there, Nick and I walked back to our cabin, “trick or treated” for two beers, which didn’t work because Michelle and Thom were busy lounging on the couches, and then we walked down a trail down into the woods.

It was lightly snowing, and a few inches that had gathered on the ground. We spent about an hour walking around in the quiet solace of nature, talking, laughing, taking pictures, and enjoying the silence. Easily one of my favorite parts of the weekend. When you are out in nature, just looking at the way the light hits the trees, the clouds part over the mountains, the delicate way the snow frosts the pine cones, it is really hard to not be grateful for life. To simply stroll along, not in a hurry, nowhere to go, no one more important that needs to be talked to. I think it is just such a natural response for us humans to want to be out in the wilderness like that. It’s where we need to go to get our heads on straight again. To ponder what’s really important in our lives, and what is superfluous.

The rest of the day was spent visiting, hottubbing in the snow (I make a GREAT poolboy….well, maybe not, but I do like a big pole…), and drinking, of course. Lots of laughter, pretty good food (although keep in mind, I’m a little critical….I hate being responsible for making sure everyone else eats well…) and an early bedtime, after a very heated game of Nertz.

All in all a great weekend. None of us wanted to leave. Sometimes I think that I would want to live like that year round. But I don’t think I’m wired that way. I think I would go crazy being home EVERY day, dealing only with the same handful of people, and doing the same thing over and over. But maybe I’m missing out on the easiest way to be happy. It’s conceivable.

I’m just grateful that once in a while I have the opportunity to go back to nature. It is my goal and responsibility to pass that on to my children. It’s our duty to make sure that in the name of capitalism and exploitation we don’t ruin or ignore the symbiotic relationship that we have with this beautiful world.

Oh, and by the way. Before travelling to Wyoming, make sure you figure out if you are a “colt” or a “filly”. It might save you the embarrassment of walking into the wrong restroom. Just FYI. Take my word on that.