Home in Wyoming

It's not the cold that I hate, honestly it's cold-hearted nature, the fake smiles and the small town gossip. The "Big Brothers", the bureaucracy, and the "I can't wait to leave" speeches. The little things people hate about Wyoming end up being some of my favorites.  You can't snow shoe and ski without a storm, you can't hike a skyscraper, and you can't see the forest if you cut it down to build a subdivision. Paris may be the city of lights but Wyoming is the place of the stars. With extremely little light pollution you can look up and see a whole new world.  A world that few city folks have ever seen. I want to take someone from the city and bring them here. Not to boast or brag, but to show them why I'm reminded everyday of how we take things for granted: shopping malls, dry roads, trees, fruit, the sun, light rails, animals, forests, clean air, and a friendly wave from a stranger.  There is so much to appreciate when you're 50-100 miles from the next town. TOWN not city.

If you really hate it so much leave. Be mad when the roads close, or how we don't have snow days, that there are more cows than people... But don't sit here, whining for "your chance out" when it's up to you to take it. I am glad I'm moving to Chicago but I will never forget where I come from and that I live in one of the harshest climates in the US. I come from the least populated state in the Union and I was born in a town of 2,000 people. Cowboy tradition never fades, never dies and never leaves you. Wyoming is an escape from reality and at that same time it makes you face it. It strips you down and makes you look critically at your values. When you're alone in the Snowy's and all you have is you and your thoughts; you learn so much about yourself.

Some of the nicest, genuine, inspiring people come from Wyoming. We're forced to appreciate what we have here! Most crave and want things but at the end of the day we know what we need and what we want are two very different ideas.

Like I said, I'm happy that I'm leaving and yes I do sometimes hate Wyoming, but not for the snow or the emptiness.  I hate that people make it a trap, mock it's beauty, and abuse the small town nature I used to love.  There may be a day I come back, maybe after a jump start career move, I fall in love, or the apocalypse.  Until then, I'll travel, I'll move, and work my ass off to succeed in the world.  Wyoming is where I want the world to fall away, to reveal the beauty and wholeness of life... I don't want it to become a place I can't love anymore and a place I don't want to come back to and visit.