There are two kinds of people in this world: “changers” and “stayers.” Bunny is a stayer – he likes things to stay the same. Whenever we go to Olive Garden, he orders the same thing he’s been getting for at least the last 5 years – ravioli portobello – which he fell in love with when I ordered it and gave him a bite. I like to try something new every time and sometimes, yes, I am disappointed by my choice, but other times I am excited to have found a new favorite. I’m also the girl that friends laugh at for changing her furniture around so often, sometimes monthly. With our current limited space, I don’t quite have that same opportunity but the desire is certainly there.
Which brings me to my topic… changing not the furniture, but the entire location. Changing CLIMATES. The weather is not my favorite right now – it’s not sunny, it’s not rainy, at least for more than five minutes. But the air is moist, the ground is sloppy and it’s dang cold outside. Worst of all, the playground structures are always WET.
Fortunately the world is in bloom, so we have lots of color, but driving around today, clutching the steering wheel with my chilled-to-the-bone fingers, I remembered the March trip I once took with my friend Coz to Arizona. Her sister was getting married and she was taking her two kids and needed someone to help drive from Logan, Utah to Phoenix. I absolutely loved the trip, even though Phoenix was already scorching hot (for me) in March. I finally understood the “snowbird” mentality – leave your cold, miserable hometown in winter for the southern states, camp in your RV until it becomes hot and yucky, then go home to finally-nice weather.
Driving around today, I thought, I could do Arizona. Particularly northern Arizona and southern Utah, close by the canyon parks. Sure, we’d be hot, but what a lovely change it would be from the gloppy Pacific Northwest. I still really love it here – there’s something magical about the deep, dark, misty woods, even if you’re just driving by them on the freeway. I guess I’m just ready for a change. For about 7 or 8 months of the year, we can count on continual cold, rain, dampness and darkness, and right now, I could deal with some cactus and juniper and red dust and blue sky and that yummy baked smell the Brookings woods would take on in summer. I think it was the myrtlewood trees.
The grass is always greener, right? Or in this case, deader.