Two sides of the coin

I drove back from Pullman yesterday. I'd taken through Tuesday off of work, but since my mom and grandma planned to work on Monday, and Gretchen had a final, I decided to head back and garden on Tuesday. I need a day at home to get a few things done and just settle in. 


It's a 7 hour drive from Pullman to Bozeman. I drove through Spokane both times, although that route is slightly longer. I wanted to see Whitman County as it comes out of winter and into spring. Green rolling hills, yellow daffodils and tractors crawling all over hills planting fall crops. 


I thought a lot about what other paths my life might have taken in the last decade. If we hadn't moved to Bozeman when I was a junior in high school, I probably would have gone to Washington State University. I would made different friends s and been exposed to other experiences. I had a pretty awesome experience at MSU and I'm not sure that WSU would have been even better; just different. I'm not sure where things would have gone from there; probably a different career field which would have lead me to a different job which would have not lead me to meeting my husband at work. 


Moving a decade ago altered the course of my life, for the better I think. Yet it didn't really change the course of Gretchen's since she insisted on going back to eastern Washington for college. She kind of got right back on that track. And she's rocking it; squeezing every experience possible out of college and making a ton of friends and dating a really great guy from central Washington. It's interesting how extensively one decision, like where to attend college, can alter the course of your life. 


I miss the area, for reasons I can't really explain. I miss the proximity to extended family. I miss the quality of life. I miss the landscape and accessibility to Seattle, Portland, and other locations. I miss having spring arrive before Memorial Day. 


I missed DJ too though, and the dog. I felt like I had so many stories to tell him, though not really much happened. It's a curious feeling to be torn between two versions of your family.


But with Gretchen planning on moving on from Pullman after graduation in 2012, and my parents moving to Pocatello for the foreseeable future, now certainly isn't the time to move back. The life I'm building with DJ in Bozeman is a good one, not for the things we are able to achieve but for the friends and lifestyle we have here. 


I'm not sure how to wrap this blog post up. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say here. Maybe just a recognition that I'm damn lucky how things have turned out, but I do wonder what else could have happened.