Friends in High Places

Jul 4

Three children precariously perched on the top of the M.

I am having a SERIOUS love affair with Montana.

It’s real.

The landscape is stunning, and yet I realized when going back through my pictures, that I didn’t seem to capture any of it at all. And certainly my iPhone photography skills wouldn’t have done it justice, so c’est la vie.

It will live on in my memory.

And we’ll be back.

What the lack of photographs tells me is that we were fully immersed in our experience, enjoying our time rather than documenting every second. Exactly how I like it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m obviously “that mom” constantly pulling my phone out to get the shot; but it feels so good to put the phone away. To disconnect and just be in the moment.

We did a lot of that in Montana, and it felt good. More of that, please.

Our time in Montana was also characterized by the people we connected with. Which is an odd thing in these COVID days, but the great thing about campgrounds is that connecting with people is relatively easy while maintaining distance.

Campgrounds are a fascinating place, filled with fascinating people. On the weekends you get a lot of families and other people out for short trips. On the weekdays, when the crowds start to thin out and the weekend warriors go home, that’s when you meet the full-timers.

The people who have jumped off the hamster wheel.

The people who looked at the American dream with the white picket fence and the 9-5 job and said, “hold my beer.”

Weekday campgrounds are filled with brave hamsters fleeing their wheels.

These are my people.

One such person we met was Adam, who was parked across from us in West Glacier. He was so friendly, we quickly found a rapport and chatted whenever we were all outside at the same time. He saw us playing frisbee and offered up some throwing tips from his Ultimate Frisbee days, and let the kids fly his extremely nice drone (brave man).

After only “knowing” each other for about 24 hours, Brent was asking Adam for some advice about driving our RV into the park, getting suggestions on where to turn around, etc.

Right then, Adam offered us his car for the day.

I mean, who does that?

Other RV’ers do, that’s who.

People who know what a PITA it is to pack up your entire rig and drive it into a crowded National Park.

People who for no other reason than the sake of brotherhood and kindness want to help make your life a little easier.

Adam was a gem, and his kindness was so appreciated and unexpected. I generally have trouble accepting help; I suffer deeply from “I can do it on my own thankyouverymuch” disorder.

But we accepted Adam’s offer, and it felt good to bask in the kindness of strangers.

And I think Adam felt good about helping.

And for a moment, we all felt good about humanity.

I’m hopeful that we will run into Adam again on the road, but for now we will be following him on the blog he writes chronicling his adventures, you should check him out! www.adamhitstheroad.com

Olive also made a new friend, and may I say, she has excellent taste. We already knew this from home, of course, as we adore all of her buddies. But watching her navigate new friendships on the road is adorable and hilarious, and she definitely has a knack for finding other wonderfully wild little souls. She and her new friend Oakland bonded quickly at the playground, and spent the next few days constantly scanning the campground for each other. For me, the best part of this friendship was purely selfish, because Oakland happens to travel with her adorable family in a converted pink school bus.

Be still my heart.

I spent a lovely evening sharing a glass of wine with her Moms, Kaitlin and Jennifer, picking their brains about life on the road. It has been so long since I’ve sat around with new friends, learning about their lives, sharing stories and guidance.

I miss it so much.

I miss my friends.

I miss female camaraderie.

I didn’t know how much I needed that evening, and I’m not sure Kaitlin and Jenn have any idea how much it filled my soul, but I walked away feeling nourished and content. It’s amazing how much connection can be achieved in short interactions, finding these moments along the way has been such a joy.

You can follow the adventures of the pink skoolie @somedaythebus on Instagram, I know I will be. Apologies in advance for the stalking, K & J, and definitely don’t be surprised when you see us pop up in a campground near you. :)

From Glacier we headed to Missoula for a few days… have I mentioned that I HEART MONTANA?

It just keeps getting better.

We biked and hiked and roamed, and soaked in the magical energy of Missoula. I was also able to reconnect with a friend from Seattle, who as far as we could piece together, I haven’t seen in 13 years. We met what seems like a lifetime ago, mentoring a triathlon team through Team In Training. We haven’t seen each other since I moved away, and even in Seattle, never spent any 1:1 time together. But we’ve kept up through social media over the years, and have both felt an energetic connection with each other, pushing us towards a deeper friendship. So when I knew we were going to be in Missoula, meeting up with Allie was a no-brainer, and it did not disappoint.

Allison and I share a complete lack of patience for bullshit. There was no small talk. We went straight into the deep stuff, the real life stuff, the soul level stuff.

And it was awesome.

Allison is on an unapologetic campaign to get us to move to Missoula, and I’m not going to lie, she is VERY convincing.

Today is the 4th of July. Independence day. A celebration of freedom.

Things feel weird.

And I feel compelled to share a thought that I had this morning.

As a nation, I think we suffer from delayed empathy. Meaning, we don’t care about something (a person, a cause, a movement) until it affects us personally. We’ve seen, and continue to see, this play out in countless ways.

We don’t care about the AIDS epidemic until someone we love or admire (Magic) is infected.

We don’t care about PTSD or the mental health challenges that our military members face until someone we love comes home struggling.

We don’t care about LGBTQ+ rights until our son or daughter comes out of the closet.

We don’t care about racial inequity until we know and care about someone of color.

We don’t care about wearing a mask until someone we know is on a ventilator.

My deep desire on this day of celebration of freedom is that, as a nation, we speed up our empathy.

We remove the “until” and start caring now.

We care about everyone, not just ourselves or the people we know personally.

We care about the equal rights of everyone- not just the ones that look like us, or love like us, or pray like us.

We realize the deep connection that we all share.

We realize that we do not live in a bubble, and that our thoughts and actions have an impact on others.

My hope is that we put our hearts and minds to work; to learn and grow.