David Wise, born on a mountain top

I recently read a very entertaining blog post entitled “Seven Reasons Why You Should Never Say F*ck It and move to a mountain town”.  It really made me laugh and I would highly recommend it.  Mostly the post appealed to me because of its very effective use of stream of consciousness writing.  I love this style. It reminds me of what the legendary Herb Caen referred to as his “monkey mind”.  He wrote in this style very often in the column he produced for the San Francisco Chronicle.  However after finishing the article, and technically agreeing with every point, I wondered why it was that no one I know who has moved to my mountain town,Graeagle, California, ever decided to go back to where they came from.  Here are my responses to each of the “Seven Reasons”:

1. You will not find a job.  This is true from the standpoint of the employee mentality.  Instead you will find that living in a small mountain town becomes your life’s work.  You will make that single unique contribution that is important to you and you alone, not what is deemed important by your employer who has his own agenda.
2. You will be cold.  Mark Twain once said, “The coldest winter I ever spent was one summer in San Francisco.”  Cold is not just a bodily sensation, it is a contrast, a contrast to feeling warm.  The warmest winters I ever spent were those bundled up in down and wool, mittens and socks, sipping a steaming cup of hot cocoa next to the wood stove in the arms of the one I love.
3. Broke.  There is a difference between not having any money and being broke. A big difference.  
4. You will not get laid.  Ha,ha!  (See #2 above) and also the author’s own qualification that this reason is only for men.  Again the author seems to be relying on possessions and cool banter to achieve the desired result.  I don’t think this applies anywhere, but especially not in a mountain town where a man just gets the job done .
5. You’re not needed up there. You’re needed down here.  No one needs you until you prove your worth.  That’s relatively easy to do in a mountain town where news travels fast.
6. You will miss a lot of things.  You will do without a lot of things, things that become unimportant to you. Instead you will gain a whole universe that recognizes the incredible transience of “things”.
7. The years just disappear.  Time flies when you’re having fun!

Plus…I must add, just for bragging rights, kids who grow up in a small mountain town, like say…oh I don’t know…let’s pick at random...David Wise.  David Wise with ties to neighboring Portola, California ( 5-miles from My Front Porch) just won a Gold Medal in Ski Halfpipe at the Sochi Olympics.  

So gold diggers might just pass through without noticing, but gold once again can be found in The Sierra.  Congratulations to all our USA Olympic Athletes!  If you weren’t born in a mountain town, you somewhere along the line decided to say, “Yes! a small mountain town suits me just fine.”