Dream a Little Dream

"Speak softly and carry a big stick" --Theodore Roosevelt

I was born and raised in Montana. What brings this topic up? Well, that answer to that, dear friend is that it's nearing May. I used to work at a remote guest ranch in the summer and we always headed up there about mid-May. For nearly three full seasons I'd go out into the middle of nowhere from then until the end of September or beginning of October. I loved it. Some of my best memories are from up there. It was pretty much manual labor-- cleaning rooms, doing dishes, cooking food, serving guests-- but I really did enjoy it. There was a sense of accomplishment when the day was done. Granted it was a long day, but it was still fulfilling. Sadly, it's seasonal work and the time came when I needed something other than seasonal work to keep my bills paid. ::lol:: It doesn't look too great on an application when it shows that you leave in the summer and are looking for something to hold you through the winter until next season.

I'm not sure why it has been weighing so heavily on my mind lately. I decided to finally write about it when I happened to glance an old bookmark in my bookmarks folder. Oddly the bookmark wasn't working, but I came across the Flickr photoset with the pictures when I was randomly searching google for the parent site. ::lol:: Funny how that goes sometimes. (The photographer was one of the guests up there my last season, hence, how I know the site.) The scenery was incredible. Many of the guests were fascinating and kind. The experience unforgettable. I really do miss it, even though it drove me nuts the majority of the time. Although, maybe I am nuts for wanting to spend my summer in the boonies and only have 5 days out in the "real world" during the season. ::lol:: I learned a lot up there though. I can set a table with a full dinner service (basically a crapload of plates and silverware), cook breakfast on a Majestic wood stove for 15 people, stuff a fridge so full of grocery items that you get bombed almost everytime you open the door, and a vast majority of other odd things. Some of those useful, others not so much. Most importantly though, it helped shape me into who I am now. I have close friends from working up there and I've lost close friends up there. I learned how to use Windows XP, what spyware scanners are, and how to set up and solve most wireless internet issues. I pretty much left home for the first time when I went up there. Little did I know that that would help prepare me to move from Montana to Nebraska, knowing no one other than a few coworkers. Despite the fact that I haven't worked up there in almost three years, the memories and lessons that I carry will stick with me for a lifetime. Maybe that's why it weighs so heavily on my mind. This time of year marks an important time in my past. A renewing. A blossoming. Life.