Balance. Acceptance. Jackhammers. And stars.

Two sides of a Monday in paradise…
1) Slate River bliss. Sitting next to a fire by the river as the stars come out on a warm summer evening, it is easy to understand why people come here. Why we live here. It is great.
2) Third and Elk horror. Biking by a giant annoying jackhammer as it pounds the crap out of concrete during a busy tourist week in the heart of Crested Butte. It makes one question the appeal of the business district. It is painful.

Lesson one… Warm evenings are rare at 9,000 feet, so take advantage of them and accept that while Monday might be busy, take an hour and get outside to watch the stars appear.
Lesson two… No one… not the town, not the landowner… wants to be doing the work at Third and Elk right now but that’s when it could be done. Timing isn’t always perfect in life, so we might as well accept an annoying construction project in the heart of town during the Wildflower Festival. Hopefully it will be quick and something better comes of it.
Acceptance.
A friend comments in the grocery line on Monday that one benefit of the current economic retraction in the valley is that people living here are re-engaging with the place. They are biking, hiking, socializing and playing instead of constantly working… unfortunately, that re-engagement is not always by choice. A friend by the river fire echoes that thought. “I wish I would have done this more,” he says as the sun starts to set and the stars begin to shine against the mountain alpenglow. “But I was too busy.” He’s worked the valley for 30 years… sometimes extremely hard. He, like many of us, was rolling in it for a while. He’s not that busy right now. And he, like others in his position, is a bit worried.

Surely, there will come a time when the economy turns around. It’s already annoying and even painful. But if the change would be quick and leave us something better, like the jackhammer project will ultimately do, I say bring it on and get it over with. But this tough period is crawling as sales tax revenues continue to show. The revenue figures remain anemic.
Many of our friends and neighbors are hanging on for the love of this place. Hanging on until the change comes. Some are learning lessons whether they want to or not. Let’s hope they won’t be left hanging much longer.
Balance.
Lessons… Working too much is not good. You might begin to miss the joys of the place. You start to forget to sit outside with friends on a warm evening at 9,000 feet. Not having enough work is not good. You might not be able to afford to stay in this place of pleasure and too much “forced” joy doesn’t pay the mortgage.
There needs to be balance. Sometimes the day brings you a jackhammer banging through the heart. Sometimes the day brings you a warm evening beneath the stars. And sometimes you get both…