An old friend's visit adds new perspective

I’ve lived here for nearly eight months and I finally made the time to go to Glacier National Park.

The main reason it took me so long to get there is because the first four months or so of living in Bigfork consisted of figuring out my job and getting settled in to my apartment. Transitioning from my arctic nomad lifestyle and expanding beyond living out of a suitcase takes time, but what about the other four months? After all, the most recent four months have been the best time to go to Glacier.

I was waiting.

Last weekend I had my first guests come visit me from Iowa. I won’t sugar coat the truth on this one, it was my ex-girlfriend (who is now just a friend) and one of her friends from college.

I was just as nervous as I was excited.

I wanted my first time at Glacier to be more than just my first time there, I wanted my first memory of Glacier to go hand-in-hand with my first time seeing her in over a year since she had visited me in Wyoming.

I got what I wanted.

The views were amazing and the last few days were filled with nostalgia. Every time she comes out to visit me in whatever new place I’ve run off to she gets me thinking outside my box.

It’s kind of a long story, but ultimately it boils down to being best friends with the same girl I dated in high school and college is a complicated situation. Out of all of my family and friends from Iowa, she knows me better than anyone else. She is also the only one to come visit, and she has done it twice now.

Her visits always bring a new perspective.

Her “evaluation” of my new life in Montana passed with flying colors.

She absolutely adored Bigfork, Pocketstone’s cinnamon rolls drew her back twice, all of the art she saw in town had her talking for hours, and Jewel Basin blew her mind. Of course, Glacier was the highlight of her visit.

She went on to describe the beer and food at Tamarack as the best she’s ever had and that spending the day picking huckleberries and playing with the puppies at Base Camp Bigfork as “the best day ever.”

These are all things that I rarely, if ever, take advantage of.

I am a creature of habit.

Everyone in town who knows my truck is the blue Chevy Colorado has told me that I work too much since they see it parked at our office every day. And the regulars on the Swan River trail and Fitex24 know I never miss a day of running and some have asked me why I workout so much and never take a day off from it.

Basically, going to bed with a sense of accomplishment is something I thrive on.

But, doing the same routine every day is akin to raising a horse with blinds on.

I see what is directly ahead of me, my goals. A perfect newspaper completed on deadline each week and a consistent 5-minute mile pace for at least a half-marathon distance.

Much like that blinded horse, I focus just on what is directly in front of me and don’t see what’s around me; a place that seems to be straight out of a storybook.

Mountains where humming birds and butterflies literally follow you around, as was our experience at Jewel Basin and Glacier. (I run without my glasses on, so I never notice those details on the trails.)

Food and drinks that taste so good that you eat until you can’t eat any more are available any time I want. But, instead I opt for protein shakes since that doesn’t involve cooking and it is part of my goal to be the fastest guy in the Rockies.

Not only do I not stop to smell the flowers, I don’t even notice they are there.

Her visit didn’t end the way my mom wanted it to, with me proposing to her. Instead it ended with a renewed sense of appreciation for what I have right here.

As for the relationship I have with my closest friend, she is moving to Germany in a few weeks and I am under direct orders from the person who knows me best to enjoy the area, shave my scruffy face, and stop using toolboxes as living room furniture.

I will consider doing one of these.