Where The Sidewalk Ends

Okay, so I've been back in Cache Valley since Friday afternoon. It is now Monday afternoon and I'm already to the point that my heart is aching - yes, ACHING - to be able to stay here forever! It's not so much the family (don't get me wrong, I love my family, but I would love them anywhere really) or the friends, it's just this place!

Today Sophie and I went to the Founder's Day celebration/parade in Wellsville. As soon as I started driving I got all nostalgic, but when I drove further into Hyrum and towards Wellsville, I started noticing all of the things that I love about Cache Valley. I love that there are many (MANY) places without sidewalks. The grass and gravel just merge on the side of the road. I love all of the trees - everywhere there are trees that have been here far longer than I have. I notice my mountains. Yep, you heard me, MY mountains, because they are my protection and my scenery and just mine. (Okay, they are anyone's who lives here I suppose) I love the run down old houses that have been fixed up to be adorable, and the ones that haven't. I love seeing kids toys left out on the front lawns. I love seeing these old stores that have somehow been in business since the beginning of time (even if they've had a few name changes). I love all of the streams and hills. I love the big ditches. I love the tractors. I love the cows. I love the old barns, the broken cars, the rusty cars that are still driving, the four wheelers, the trucks, the quarter pop machines, I love it all. The last few years (since having Sophie really) I have been yearning to come back here to stay someday. I want that security of not needing to lock my car or house doors at night, and walking throughout the neighborhood and seeing people you know just sitting on the grass having a good time. Oh I miss it so much! And there's nowhere really that compares to it. I mean, you can compare any small town in Cache Valley to another, but you can't compare Cache Valley to any other place. I've been other places and have liked things about them, maybe even loved things about them (I really do love Arizona, for example) but the second I turn that last corner through Sardine Canyon and see the view of the valley and see the temple barely visible in the distance, nothing else comes close anymore.

And to think that I used to count the days until I could move away. To the city. To the big life. To more exciting things.

Silly.

I hope and pray that someday when Jon is finished with his schooling, we can come back here and have a cute little house with no sidewalk where the kids run barefoot all summer long, and we can sit and watch a parade with 20 tractors at the end of it with the model and year they were made proudly displayed with the crowd cheering on.

This is the life I want, wish, pray for and dream of. With me, Jon, and Sophie all happy in our little valley.

But for now, we work. We get Jon through school, we find him a job, and then we'll see where life takes us.

Hopefully right here.