[su_heading size=”18″]Living in Basalt, Colorado[/su_heading]

For some of you school has already started and you probably weren’t prepared for it. For others, such as I, school doesn’t start until next week and we are overly prepared. Ready with backpacks packed and possibly lunches already made.

HELL YES I’m ready. Ready for the twitch to stop from the stress induced delusion that summer is all about bathing suits and nature impacted jaunts into the woods.

I keep trying on that laisse faire state of mind but it doesn’t seem to fit, it only makes the twitch in my eye grow stronger as I abandon the stack of papers to dive into exploring summer with my children…which leads me to have a strong propensity to drink a bottle of wine at night, with no help, to ignore the pull to work in my new office, which has been dubbed as my cave.

The kids are not fooled. They see my frustrations and react. We thought it would be fun to spend a day in Glenwood Springs shopping for school supplies and sporting equipment. NOT. Last minute shopping in 100 degree heat is NOT fun. On days like these you have to hope that you don’t run into anybody that you know, but of course I always have witnesses that talk for days about how they saw Jillian having a meltdown at Moes when in reality it wasn’t me having the melt down but Tucker who decided that he was going to revert back to being two again and cry in line because he couldn’t see the food and therefore couldn’t decide what he wanted for lunch. Let’s just suffice it to say that he got deeply grounded with the life long punishment of no more bad television.

The next morning, passing me in my cave, he stood there half naked with tousled hair, his long legs protruding from flooded pajama legs with rockets blasting all over them. I wrapped him up in my arms to feel his warm, soft body against my skin and kissed his sleepiness away.  I was speaking with my mother about our new life, telling stories of all the new children stopping by to suss us out and the bear who loves our plum tree and stretches up to a massive height to reach the sweetest plums I’ve ever tasted, it’s okay, I’ll share with our new wild friend that we have to keep our windows closed from lest he find us just as sweet. He also loves to move our toilet from one end of the deck to the other. Why is there a toilet on my deck you ask? Because Wade ripped it out to fix the leak in our beautiful new home, that needs work.

As much as I relish the chance to get back to some serious work, I am more ready to get out into this warm weather and play, hard,  before the frost comes. It’s still summer and Basalt has a steadfast grip with temperatures about 5 to 7 degrees warmer than where we came from in Old Snowmass. It’s been nice living in the Banana Belt where we can sit outside with friends late into the evening to the light of stars and flickering hurricane candles.

[su_heading size=”18″]Basalt in the Summertime[/su_heading]

Serious road bikers still cruise through town after a 27.35 mile round trip ride up the Frying Pan Road to the Ruedi Reservoir dam, while fly fishermen pull up to Syzygy’s sister restaurant, The Riverside Grill, to tell fishing tales over ice cold beer. Cowboys pull up on their horses to the Brick Pony Pub while across the street Yogis release sore muscles from hardcore playing in the mountains. For a Massachusetts girl it’s all so adventurous, and sexy.

I will say this, as I look forward to the kids getting back into a more regimented lifestyle I will miss the long, sweet quiet mornings and the beautiful evening walks  into Basalt, our small western town, where deep green Pines seep in the light as we search for boughs to play on and where the sun, especially lately due to the haze in the air from the  fires, turns into a blazing ball of red before sinking below Basalt mountain, a mountain that once was a shield volcano long ago.

Nevertheless, I’m still going to sing HALLELUJAH that school starts soon. Come on, you know you want to sing it with me, loud and slowly because summer is still here and now it is your time to get out and play in it, without packing the dog, the kids and the cooler into the car – those of you who are going to miss being with your children day in and day out, don’t have to sing out loud, just sing it to yourself quietly because I know that deep down in all of us, whether we admit it or not, we are all ready for some sanity and some time to ourselves.

And now it’s time to play, and get shit done. It’s just you, so enjoy.