So I got to counting yesterday and it looks like the end of April marks the end of the 6 month mark for my time here in Boone. Then I started laughing!!!! In just under 6 month time I have managed to secure most of what I want, with a lot of connecting, and a lot of patience, but also with the kindness and openness of the community to which I now feel I am a part.
I was thinking back to November, alone in this space, not really knowing my flat mates, not really hearing from the friends that were already here, and not knowing what the spring might bring. A lot of uncertainty is ok for a traveler like me, but the permanence of trying to root down here, and not knowing IF I would have the things I wanted was making me question the decision to stay.
I was thinking of late December - early January, when the temperatures dropped and I became dependent on a car, and even that was sketchy, the feeling of remoteness and of being alone starting to get me down.
I was thinking of February when despite the temps I started making connections. Hell there was a week there when I went on like 5 dates! Not bad for a small town like this. Birthday months are always good to me.
Now its about to crest into May and I have Jesse coming for a 10 day visit to shred mountain bikes and get rad! I've Cousin making plans for a summertime visit, I have a great bike shop job and a dreamy job pulling pints at the only local brewery in town, I have a community outreach bike workshop to teach this weekend, I have invited to sit on a board and committee to help start a community bike share and bike kitchen program, I have bike rides for days right out my front door, a great mountain bike community of shredders, and empty country roads for miles and miles, I have a really great Lady Friend who looks at me from across the room like Im some kind of wonderful, the list of free stuff includes furniture, clothes, food, and 3 bikes to this point... the list of blessings just keeps getting longer...
When I made my original list of what I wanted from a town I kind of expected that I would come to a place that had everything I wanted up and running. While Im not about to try to wrangle up a farmers market (good cause there already is one) I have found a few of the things I wanted missing from the experience thus far. Turns out, up here in the High Country, if you dont see what it is you want, you go out and make it! There are people who make their own dog food from road kill up here for fuck's sake! Its a real Do It Yourself culture in the mountains of North Carolina and I think Im going to dig it! Of course part of me wants to whine about the work it takes, but the craftsman in me is really happy to have the chance to see what I can do. If you aint got what you need - just MAKE IT!
Being a tourist for the last 6 years has given me a lot of confidence in myself, that I can go anywhere and fit in. But that assumes fitting in to what already exists. NC is going to teach me how not only to fit back into my own culture, and to feel a sense of permanency, but to actually CREATE the things I want to see, to "be the change you want to see" as the inspirational poster suggests.
I feel very lucky to be right here right now.
And theres really no other place to be.
S.
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