Smiling Understandingly, How I got to Live on a Mountain, No Apologies

“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole eternal world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby)

Good morning; I slept in a little, my body needed rest, and I allowed the event to happen.  We had company; Bay stayed the night, Ricki did as well, John and Sara came over, and we had a little dinner and drink, a fun night of food, friends, and music.  How was your night?  I will share we had a great time.  But alas, it’s another day.

I’ve got an open morning; my first appointment is at noon; I’m doing some teaching, 2 hours of my program.  Tonight we are heading to Red Rocks to see Brit Floyd; our friend Jack gets in town tonight; he will stay at the condo and make his way to our mountain home; we have tickets for Tedeschi Trucks Friday.

We did our 2-mile hike with Parker Van Halen, and as I looked around at the scenery, I asked myself how the hell I got here and thought that might be a good rue for my soup tomorrow.  So without further ado, here’s my story.

I was born in Muncie, Indiana, at Ball Memorial Hospital.  My childhood was Bever Clever-like, safe, happy, no issues; I started life rounding second base. I’ll make no apologies; that’s where something bigger than myself put me; he puts us all where we need to be.  I grew up in the cornfields and had a passion for work early; I was happiest when working as I look back.

I was not athletic, so as my friends played baseball and wrestled, I found passion in paper routes, fireworks stands, and cutting grass. Then, at 12 years old, I discovered golf and rode my moped the 4 miles to our local course.  I’d play 36 holes a day and had a decent showing in high school.  High school was fine; I was the class clown, I graduated, and one of my teachers told me that I would do some big things on graduation day. Up until that point, I thought of myself as a loser.

I headed to college at Ball State, lived one year in the dorms, and then moved off campus to a place we called Dead Ed’s.  We had a beer tap, a bar. It was a good run.  I ended up getting my Masters’s degree and got married about a month after graduation. I bought my first house for $12,500, my second home for $6500. Then, we parlayed those two homes into our dream home for $47,500—a farmhouse with four acres and a large barn located 1 mile from my childhood golf course.  You have to love Indiana and the cost of living.

After 17 years of marriage, my wife and I agreed it was time to go our separate ways. So I bought a place in Farmland, Indiana, a beautiful space with a walkout deck; I lived there for five years until my kids went to college.  I then moved to Carmel, Indiana, with my partner, and we decided to relocate to downtown  Indianapolis. So we bought a home and remolded it to look like something from Boulder, Co.

Two years later, I had found a passion for Colorado after taking my kids and my partner out for a few vacations; I decided I wanted to live part-time in the mountains and crafted a plan to spend some time out west.  We rented a duplex in the hood to start, then bought a condo downtown, and after a couple of years of condo living, we bought our mountain house.

We flew weekly, back and forth between Indy and CO for four years, but when COVID hit, we had to choose between Indiana and Colorado, the mountains won, and we began staying at our mountain home for two months then driving back to Indiana. So we now summer in Colorado and spend our winters in Indiana, well that’s the plan, but after our daughter gets married in November, we might rethink our plans.

We began leasing our Indy home for $500 a night, and since June, it’s been booked solid. In addition, we’re using our assets to generate some side income.  I now reside at 8232 feet above sea level.  I live with the most beautiful woman in the world.  I have three amazing kids, all successful, happy, and independent. In addition, we got a COVID dog, Parker Van Halen, a sweet creature who loves to hike and gives unconditional love to anyone willing to accept her gift.

My days are now filled with virtual and in-person meetings. We hike about 2 miles a day and end our days cooking, loving, and watching some silly television.  We are at Red Rocks a lot; we would watch a harmonica player at Red Rocks; it’s our church.

I left out some spicey details; maybe I’ll share those another day.  But the story is my story, and I often wonder about how you got where you are. So feel free to share; this is my path to joy, love, and happiness.  I’m a happy fellow; I own along with my wife a successful company; my ex-wife is doing great; she recently retired and will have a wonderful long life of leisure and impact.  Everything works out in the end, and that, my friend, is how you do life; I make no apologies for who I am, who I’ve become, or where I sleep.

“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole eternal world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby)