What a difference a month makes! i stopped studying/writing when a common cold made our lives uncommonly tiring. Then on Groundhog Day, my husband's job went away. If it came back, we wouldn't want it, but it still was a shock. We decided to use that as the opportunity to return to CO, which we have longed to do for some time.

In between packing, packing and trying to keep two deserving children cared for, we managed to visit Great Aunt Eva, my hero and daughter's namesake.

We also got to see my Mom and Phil. It was a really lovely and short visit. i know that one never knows when the last time doing something will be except in retrospect, but now that Aunt Eva's almost 93, i left wondering if it would be the last trip to the twilight town of Great Falls. That said, i will count myself fortunate to be as spry as Aunt Eva. She still insists on doing things like carrying in her own firewood and cooking feasts when we visit.

i love lists, so here is one in no particular order of things i'm really, really excited about returning to in CO:

• FOOD! Good markets, good restaurants, good Mexican food!
  
• Mountains, mountains, mountains
  
• Showing Scout and Eva said mountains
  
• Trying out living in a small mountain town
  
• Snow
  
• Finding people i resonate with
  
• hiking, snowshoeing, falling on my arse again snowboarding
  
• that feeling i have when looking at mountains
  
• the sound of snow falling
  
• cool summer nights
  
• the light and sky
  

Ok, enough indulgence. Back to packing plates. Sometimes i wish i could throw away things like a normal person, instead of trying to keep as much as possible out of the landfill. That said, FreeCycle is a super cool invention and we've given a bunch of stuff there.