out of idaho
I used to live in a town called Sandpoint. It was a little ski town in the northern tip of Idaho and it was beautiful. Giant mountains, an epic lake, amazing trails...This photo was taken on a hike with the dogs just two years ago. Taylor (an old design school friend) snapped it when she came out to visit one weekend in October of 2007. Sandpoint, the Rockies, all of it feels like it didn't happen sometimes. My rogue year on the west coast away from the Octobers I grew up with. I have photographic evidence and stay in touch with old friends. I know I was there but it remains a ghost in a lot of ways. My year in Sandpoint was rough. Being that far away from everyone I knew and loved took a harder toll than I imagined when I first moved out. I didn't fall to the bottle or get horridly depressed, just heavy feeling, all the time. Even so, I'd so like to visit again. I miss the old farmhouse and the lake and the nights in pubs with clever friends. It's where I learned to do all the things you know me for doing: my first hens, first home-baked bread, first book...all of it came out of Idaho. I owe that state a lot.
posted by Jenna Woginrich at 10:17 PM
5 Comments:
That "heavy feeling" is what I've been experiencing the last three years in the south. I spent a lifetime in Louisiana as a kid (4 years) and was miserable the whole time. Physically with the heat and humidity and emotionally with stuff going on in my family that took a huge toll. Now I'm back with my own family and would rather be just about anywhere else.
I miss my mountains, cool air, snow, blue skies and people who are self-sufficient and neighborly. But I'm learning things here and becoming who I will be. For that I can't kick too much.
But the homesickness is overwhelming at times.
Sometimes life lessons are best learned away from home, much like the desire of many to "go away" to college.
Learning and doing new things that others might not understand or support are best done where people accept what you are doing and know you no other way.
The lessons learned and experienced gained are ours to keep no matter where we may travel from there.
This time away was your training ground. Your homesteading junior college.
Your gut reminded you that this was not your final destination. That does not mean that you can't return to your training ground for a visit. It is usually not the same as when you first were there but fun to visit just the same.
Tony in Asheville
Tony- your comment spoke to me in so many ways. You said it beautifully. Thank you.
If you make your way through Missoula on your way to Sandpoint (on your next available visit) - stop in! We're an awesome town. :)
I was born near there in Idaho. It's a gorgeous place. Hemingway said that he could only write about home when he was away from home. He was another Idaho person too. I went back recently and of course it wasnt the same, but the magic was still in the purple hills, fools gold in the clearwater and the huckleberries on the trails. I just found your blog and look forward to reading more. thanks
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