Muck's Stuff: July 2007

Some thoughts on the last week in GA.
Seven years ago, Keith was looking for another job having been with Meridian in Wyoming for sometime he sought more challenges. He interviewed at several places close to home; I think in part because he knew I really did not want to leave Wyoming. Of all the Wyoming opportunities he could work not one appealed to either of us. Then,one day he came home and said, "How about Georgia?". Having only been In Georiga once as a kid...I said without an ounce of reservation,"Yea, I could do Georgia!". So, we packed it up and headed south. We have loved every minute since our arrival. It felt in many ways like we had always been from Georgia. From the moment we "fell in love" with our house it seemed like home.
As you leave our subdivision you come to a four stop that overlooks, to the east, a "valley"(it is seriously the most majestic of valleys, looking much more vast than the two miles it actually inhabits)This little peice of heaven is dotted generously with Georiga pines and speckled by one loan pristine, white church steeple (Baptist;just up the hill from the historic Alcovy Grist Mill and the Alcovy River). Sometimes this valley glows with a beautiful, and radiantly colored sunrise and other times a low fog sits between the trees gives it a quiet beauty accentuated by the smell of moist pinestraw and the dampness of the Alcovy river as it rises to the top of the overlook.
I had a valley like this in between Laramie Wyoming and Ft Collins Colorado at the base of the Rocky Mtn that I fondly named, "The Maubie Valley"; named after my grandma. Maubie was an artist; a bond we shared, and she would often say, "Winnie Pooh, do you see the brillant purple in that sunset?". After, she died I felt her presence in that valley between the two states often and cherished any opportunity to drive slowly thru it and enjoy it's quiet beauty. My Georgia valley I named, "Laura's Valley", after my dear friend Laura Parker who died too young (at only 35) of breast cancer. She passed shortly after we moved but not before she came to visit giving Georgia her blessing and deciding,"Georgia looks good on The Horton's).
On morning runs and bike rides from the house I would frequently stop at the four way and just stare at the beauty the valley had laid out for me that day. Often I would spot a beautiful blue bird and I secretly imagined the bluebird might be Laura sharing the valley with me;reminding me to slow down and take it all in; just like Maubie. I loved that I was allowed to move through Georgia either on foot or on my bike.It was in those solitary moments close to the earth and happy laughter filled moments with family and friends that I will always remember as my Georgia. I guess I will always have some part of Georgia on my mind!