Whining, Wine-ing & Winning

Here I am on our last day in the beautiful Colorado Rockies, sipping my coffee and thinking really hard about whether making that 10 hour drive home is really worth it, or if I should just stay here with my mom and become a full time mountain freeloader. It’s going to be really hard to leave tomorrow since I rarely get to see my mother, and my little girl is out here living her best life. We do need to go home though to my husband and her dadda, who is anxiously waiting for us to get back home to him.

Yesterday was another fun day. My mom and my step dad have a car detailing business they do on the side for extra cash. It’s crazy to me how much money people will pay to have someone else clean their cars. I got mine done for free because I’m kind of a big deal…even though I had to help.

I wasn’t mad about it since it meant more time with my mom, even if our OCD and personalities clashed a little which made mild entertainment for us both.

We took more nature walks around the cabin neighborhood, which is basically a tiny cluster of retired snow birds not living here yet, so it’s been really quiet. I’d love to come back during the middle of summer just to feel the mountain town summer vibes again — live music, fishing, hiking, campfires, and s’mores like I did as a kid.

More about my mom’s and step dad’s house though. They’re doing major renovations to it, and my favorite part so far has been the deck where we’ve spent most of our time. My step dad hand built the entire thing by himself, and it’s honestly impressive. There are little lights tucked into the woodwork and plant holders built into the corners for my mom. All this man did was watch YouTube and BAM…here’s a mountain deck that looks like a team of professionals came in and knocked it out.

I can’t even put together a TV stand or baby furniture from Amazon without realizing halfway through that part 34A is backwards and I need to take the entire thing apart after cussing out the YouTube guy for “making no sense.”

I think that’s what’s making it hard to leave this place. It’s not just the mountains or the cooler weather, or sitting on the deck with my coffee or Beehive watching hummingbirds act like tiny caffeinated psychopaths. It’s the feeling out here. Things slow down here.

I don’t need to worry about laundry or dishes or keeping up with the house for once because my mother has already done half of it before I even notice it needs done. My daughter has spent the week outside collecting rocks to pile on the deck, hugging the wooden bear and moving around the baby wooden bear, chasing birds, and falling asleep exhausted every night since everyday is filled with FOMO and no naps. I got to sit with my mom, laugh until I cried a few times, and remember what it felt like to just exist for a minute instead of constantly trying to keep up with life.

Tomorrow I’ll pack the car back up, grab my road trip coffee, and head home to reality, schedules, laundry, dishes, dogs, and normal life again, but for a little while, I got my mountains and my momma back.

I think I needed that way more than I realized.