Halfway between here and there.

When Jen and I were seriously dating, one of the first questions was where do you hope to live someday?  We had talked about putting down roots somewhere and being a part of a neighborhood and community and playing a part in our town.  (That's what sappy romantics talk about, right?)  It's kind of a big thing to think about.  I remember thinking about where I would live when I was a kid, very superficially of course, and thought that Colorado was pretty great.  Most of that impression, I'm sure, came from driving out west and being astounded by the mountain scenes, because I don't know that I had any other exposure to Colorado besides that.  

I recognize that there are lots of people that don't have any reason to leave the town they grew up in.  This week, out of sheer curiosity, I googled for one of my friends Larry from 4th grade.  What do you know, he still lives at the same address I would bicycle to over 20 years ago when I wanted to go skip rocks with him.  (With his parents, still, perhaps?)  Then I also was trying to reach out to a local who gave me the wrong address, and I knocked on a door and asked if the guy knew Roger, and he said "I've lived on this street all my life, I know everyone here, and there is no Roger."  Interesting, eh?  ALL MY LIFE!  Maybe the more interesting claim is "...I know everyone here...", but that's a blog of a different color.

That's very different that our admirable friend, Bridget, who I admire greatly as she epitomizes world traveler in my mind.  I'm content to not be moving hither and thither, though I do like to see new scenes.  Family trips are nice enough, for now.

So anyway, somehow, we decided that boundaries were good, but so is proximity.  I was raised in a family where grandparents were 1.5 hours away at the closest, and a few days drive at the farthest.  Jen was raised in a family with grandparents across town at closest, and a couple towns over at farthest.  We had different degrees of involvement with our grandparents, but in both our cases, the connection was integral to our formative years.  Jen's mother was largely single-parenting, so she'd spend a considerable amount of after-school time with her mother's parents.  In my case, we'd travel to Columbia for all (most?) of the major holidays.  So we designed our ideal case:  Close enough to drive, but far enough that our parents would have to call first. :)  Hehe.  We also imposed a different-stake guideline, so our friends across the church region wouldn't be tempted to spread gossip to our folks.

Here's approximately what that map would look like.  Purple is too close, red is the ideal zone.

Incidentally, I did interview with a couple of companies in Denver, but neither of them felt quite right.  I had two friends from college accept jobs at my current place of employ, so was glad to make a trip to Boston to see how the fit was.  I was well received, and they were desperate for a few more BYU alums ("We're never disappointed in the BYU guys...").

So now, where does that put us?  We're about halfway between here (Jen's parents and maternal grandparents, 2 hrs north)

And there (Jen's paternal grandparents, 2 hrs south).

So that makes us a convenient stopping through spot! 

In the end, it's nice to be "on the beaten path" to family, and nice to have a little separation too, as we like to develop our own family holiday traditions at home here.

It takes a little more effort to get to TN, but it can be accomplished in a half-day without too much headache (again, probably worth a blog post!).

I wouldn't be disappointed if we ended up being here for a while, and I'm quite cozy with the idea of being a New Englander.  The fact is, I kind of feel settled down already, as I've checked out the town historical society DVDs from the library and know my way around town better than many of the other locals.  Isn't that when you know you've Arrived?