Since moving to Great Falls, MT in August of 2010, I have found myself trying to find reasons to love my new town.
Growing up in Missoula Montana, I have had a hard time. Missoula in its own way is beautiful. You have mountains, rivers, and the artistic people that have made it just that. People as a general rule are friendly and wave or honk at you as they drive by. Where many doors are left unlocked during the day ( I know ours was) and every new friend was welcomed in your home. Where family was a few houses away and a coffee shop was open later than 2 in the afternoon. Unfortunately I do not consider Missoula home anymore. My hometown? Always, but not home.
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| Photo taken during Family Reunion a few years ago. |
Slowly but surely I have found ways to like Great Falls as well. I moved here to attend school in the fall of 2010 for Interior Design. Great Falls has managed to find ways to make me love it too. It is flat, with some rolling hills. But the rivers are beautiful and the damns make for a relaxing moment. We have a duck pond that I wish I spent more time at. We have fields that glow a brilliant gold during Harvest Season, and glisten white during winter. We have the largest and most beautiful skies I have ever seen and with them come some of the most beautiful starry nights and most beautiful sunsets. We have super-cell storms and raging winds that have you walking sideways in a thunderstorm without blinking.
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| My First Winter in Great Falls |
When I arrived at the doorstep of my sister and brother-in-laws house on Malmstrom Air Force Base, she was pregnant with my nephew and a few days later I met Ethan. Ethan was my first blind date--as much as I tried to get out of it--I enjoyed our date. Even if JoDee and Chris wouldn't stop waiting for fireworks to shoot out of our heads! He was my first friend and eventually made me his. He introduced me to many of his friends and his family. His family welcomed me with open arms and made this new place 10 times easier.
Soon I started school and met a whole host of friends that would make school easier, more enjoyable, and soon we would become close friends. The first year was the toughest. After moving in with JoDee, Chris had to move back to Las Vegas in search of work because nothing here would pay Chris enough for them to sustain a life outside the military. In Chris' absence Ethan became the sweetest guy in the world. He would come and mow the lawn for us and take care of the leaves. When it came time for JoDee to move to be with Chris in November, he graciously helped my Dad and Uncles pack her U-Haul with more than anyone would have thought possible.
That week I also moved in with Adam Barraclough (a guy JoDee worked with) and his loving German Shepard Johnny. This was about the most awkward months of my life. I basically confined myself to my room and avoided Adam. I was living with a man that I didn't know and wasn't sure I wanted to get to know. After some time, I am not sure, I moved into the apartment that I now share with Ethan.
Living with my boyfriend has not always been as easy as it was when we weren't living together. We spend a few weeks in bliss and happiness and enjoy living together. Then we have a day where we just don't click. This is hard for me. I take it very personal.
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| No he doesn't have a Mohawk. |
Some times I wonder if I had tried a little more when I was younger to be a different person or if I could seem to remember to put that glass in the dishwasher instead of the sink, if this would happen less. Some times I wonder if we are like this because we don't belong together or if it is because one of us isn't in love anymore. None of this is ever the case, we fell in love with the person that we see in front of us, at least I did. What it sometimes comes down to is this:
If that one co-worker had not said that one thing that set us off earlier that day, if we hadn't spilled that one cup of coffee all over our car, or if we had gotten one more hour of sleep that night. If we had not let all of the little things that went wrong turn into one big thing. And if we had left that one bad moment at the stairwell before walking through the door and just felt thankful we had someone to come home to, maybe none of these fights would have happened. But they do, and we learn to work through them. These have been moments that come in the latest parts of the night, leaving us both tired and worn out the next day. We do not, however, come home mad the next day, we apologize and just be each other.
I often wonder if we are like every other couple out there, hoping that we aren't the only ones who feel like this from time to time. Regardless, I love him, and he loves me.
Love is hard. It isn't worth fighting for if it doesn't require work to keep it...right?
