Thursday, September 21, 2006

To Complain

I wasn't going to post until I had something positive to say. But everything seems to be skewing negative. Maybe it's me but I went to this gourmet food store I'd been waiting to visit called Art of the Table so I could buy expensive cheese and baby-sized veggies. There were but a few types of cheese. There were no veggies. It was one of those gourmet stores that had a lot of jars of jam and mustard and all the cloth napkins and placemats one could imagine. It also had wine which made up for some of the disappointment--but everywhere here has wine. There's an anti complaint at least.
We got more bad news last night--Erik's mom and step-dad are moving to the 3rd worst place on the planet, after Vegas and Phoenix. They're moving to St. George. Where the Mormons pretend they don't gamble and everyone golfs. Where there is no water. They're moving to an off-the-grid solar-paneled luxury home. They're leaving the most amazing house--up a little tiny canyon, tucked so deep that everyone who drives by is either a neighbor or people going backpacking for six days. From this canyon home you can see across five other canyons, deer scratching for brush, moose. In the winter, Erik and his stepdad would hike up the trail behind the house and ski down the ridge. You could watch them turn from the living room windows. It was a twenty minute drive to downtown SL.
They're moving to where there's no snow, no water, no restaurants. Now, we have to do the couples-from-different-hometown thing and alternate holidays. We were planning on coming back home for a month or two this summer but now that we don't have a retreat to visit, I don't know if we will. I'm not going to St. George in July--at least not for more than a couple of days.
I shouldn't complain about it--they've been so good to us and I suppose we deserve what we get, having left ourselves. But the idea of going back to that beautiful house and to the mountains was one of the ways I was keeping going. I'm still looking forward to going home to see my mom and sisters and my friends--all of whom I miss more than I even thought possible--but it won't be like I'm dividing my home between SLC & GR. It will be more like a visit. I won't be able to pretend that I don't really live here. Maybe that will be good, in the end.

4 comments:

Dr. Write said...

Oh Otterbutt!!!!
Maybe we can take up a collection to buy their house and it can be an artist/writer retreat for wayward souls and those who need baby veggies.
If it's any consolation, I live three blocks from the cheese, baby vegetable have (Liberty Heights) and I never go there. I'm too tired and poor. So there's that.
we miss you too!!

Dr. Write said...

I meant "haven." you knew that.

Nik said...

Hey all. It is grim but in some ways maybe we did need to cut the cord. Still, I must find a way to see you all this summer.
Mary Anne...when my harddrive crashed, I lost most peoples' contact info. My email is nikwalk at m s n dot com. I'd love to commisserate and hear some successful survival strategies! I just wish our blogging panel had made it for AWP. That would have been so much fun. And justified all the time I spend online!

Lisa B. said...

Poor girl. It's terrible when the folks decide to move. And St. George, I so agree with your assessment. Hot. Really, it's just Vegas. Which is hell. What were they thinking?