Signs of light

A guy comes into the office Tuesday night with a big smile and some frenetic energy. “I really love it here but I just sold everything and am going to Mongolia,” he tells me. “I’ve done martial arts for five years and it teaches that everything is supposed to be smooth. I wasn’t working much. It was hard to pay the bills. I had a Jeep and kept paying for repairs. It wasn’t very smooth here. This just feels right.”

A longtime acquaintance I respect tells me The Gadfly was too whiny in the past two weeks. It’s hard to not sound whiny when you love a place and don’t want to leave but you can’t make a living. More people told me they are not personal fans of The Gadfly but he wrote a column they agree with. It struck a nerve. Some people need to make a living to stay living here.

Glimmers of light: Looking at a couple of stories in the paper this week, the festival season looks like it will be attracting people here this summer. CBMR appears to be making an effort at being a team player by offering ski pass and lesson deals to help attract students to Western State College. The tourism forecast shows some encouraging signs for the summer with drive market promos, zip lines and lots of music and weddings on line.
This has never been an easy place to live, but I like whatever diversity we are able to attract in terms of both tourists and residents.

That guy who came in the office Tuesday is catching a plane to Mongolia on Thursday. As the song says, ”You can check out but you can never leave.” I’m pretty sure he’ll be back because this is a magical valley, but he’ll have stories to share. And when he does return, hopefully he’ll be able to make some money and pay for his Jeep repairs. Like it or not, the ability to earn a living helps to make it a littler smoother here.