Home Sweet Home

Home is where your people are. Home is the place you feel most comfortable. People say, "There's no place like home," but that's not true. There are a million places like home....they are just "home" to other people. The older you get the more "homes" you have. I am comfortable here in the Salmon River Canyon. There is an ongoing relationship that I have with everyone and everything here. I may not even know it exists until I REALLY think about it. After living somewhere long enough, you will eventually have a story about everybody. Maybe just a little story, but a story just the same. Especially when that town has less than 500 people living in it.

I moved to Riggins, from Alaska, 17 years ago. My family had formerly lived in New Meadows, but on my return, my Dad had remarried and moved to Pinehurst. Man did it suck! I did NOT want to be here. The mountains were too tall. The girls dressed too preppy. The school was too big. (Yes, big! I came from a class of 7 and a basketball team of 6.) All of the faces were unfamiliar. It just wasn't MY town...yet.

I met kids that were nice. I met kids that were rude. I made people laugh. I fought with the teacher that made fun of my pants. I skipped school and jumped in the River and smoked cigarettes for the first time. I got good grades and kissed boys...not too many! I drank soda pop and made 3 pointers. I learned to ride the bus in style.

Pretty soon the mountains were like my Mama's hug and the River was like my sister. And, I found a best girlfriend that didn't have to wear make up all the time. Her mom had a van with a stereo that worked some of the time. We put on old army jackets and found our niche as the little hippie chicks. We drove out to Time Zone Bridge and talked about deep and trippy things. I started spending all the time I could up the Salmon River and learned how to drink cheap beer with the best of them....and the worst. I bought a vw van and learned how to play the guitar. I got a job at a fire lookout on the Clearwater and learned to be alone. I got a little puppy dog. It died. I got another one.

I met my husband in the boy I knew from school and we made each other laugh...and cry. We bought llamas and hiked around finding antlers. We camped and scoured the beaches for old rocks. We bought Oly stubbies in the box for $4. We hunted for deer and ate breakfast burritos. We hung out with Grampa and Gramma and fed their chickens. We bought a bus, with history, and parked it on the River. We decorated it with plants and pictures and played house. I sewed pillows for my dog.

We got married on our beautiful Salmon River. A grand shindig with a roast pig and family and music and swimming and sun. We had our first baby on that same River. It's been 9 years ago, this week. I was so young. We had no idea what to expect. I read 15 books on breathing and eating right and massage and nursing. It didn't prepare me for what I had to do. Nothing can teach you to labor, like labor. My sister came to stay with us. We played Skip-bo and cooked sausages and ate fish tacos and laughed a lot. She rubbed my feet. Travis paced nervously and mopped the floor. He "caught" the baby...little Hannah Hollon! She was perfect and she looked just like her Daddy!

We moved the bus to a road job in Council for awhile. We saved up $7,000 in a diaper box under the fridge for our dream property. I washed cloth diapers in a bucket and played with my baby in the shade by the creek. We met friends that are now like family. We went to their house and ate good food and stayed up late. Then we went back to Riggins and we bought 2 acres on Shingle Creek. We built a cabin. We planted trees and made mud pies and had campfires and told stories. We hung a swing up for the 2 yr old and taught her to count.

We had another baby! I was experienced enough to be scared of what was coming that time. I knew how hard it was going to be. I also knew how wonderful it was. Travis cooked pork chops, fed the midwives, and I paced and drank Raspberry Leaf tea. Beautiful Charlee Beth was born! She looked just like my side of the family! We had now doubled our numbers.

We got chickens. We got goats. We got cats and more dogs. We cut firewood. Travis traveled away to jobs and I stayed and counted days until he came home. I started homeschooling the girls. I went to the beach with my girlfriends and their kids. We taught them to swim and cussed the rafts that pulled up on "our" beach. We went to the library. We went to the store. Travis built a rental house in town. We built a health food store in town. We sold organic veggies and creamer. We sold our cabin. We rented for the first time in our lives and lived in North Riggins! We taught the girls to ride bikes and circled the neighborhood, visiting with anyone who happened to be out in their yard.

We had another baby! This time I wasn't scared. I was brave. I broke records, I'm sure. Tenesee Rose was added to the clan. We figured out we were very good at making pretty girls! The big sisters were so excited. Grammas and Grampas and Aunts and Uncles and friends and neighbors came to hold the new Hollon. We hosted Christmas in that house. We were all grown up.

This canyon holds all of that for me. And we are making more memories every day. The kids have best friends and they ride horses and they help us find mushrooms in the spring. We go out to Ruby Rapids and look for garnets. We go and lay in the sun while the kids chase the dog. We go in the bank and eat suckers. We go to basketball games and yell and chase kids. We stay up too late singing by the campfire...and forgetting most of the words. We chase the neighborhood goat!

It's day in and day out and it's all of these little things we do, when we think we are doing nothing, that make up just who we are. Time builds love and bonds that will last a lifetime. So, even when we leave we take the Salmon River and all of you with us. We load up our camper and head out for new adventures. We reunite with family we haven't seen for years. We see the coast. We walk new Main Streets and look in their little shops. We get jobs in new towns and make new friends. And, all the while we talk about home and what we will do when we get back. The kids make maps and plans for new forts and games they will play with their buddies at home. Leaving is somehow always about getting back.

So, I guess we are getting old. I guess we will never look better than we do today! I know that somehow, it will all make sense at the end of the road. I won't sit around and feel like I missed it all. I will relish in all of these things that make up who I am, who we are. Because we are living it up! We aren't wasting a minute! I see these certain strong and bold people around me. They let their hair go gray. They get a little thick around the middle. They laugh and hold their grand babies and tell stories over coffee. They are beautiful! I want to be like that.

I used to wonder how I would handle teething and the first day of school and temper tantrums and lies and talks about sex. I see now that you are just prepared when it comes. Somehow you are unfolding to this readiness of each stage of life. So I won't be scared when I roll out of bed and take a minute to straighten up and have to pop my left shoulder so it'll get moving again. And I won't run away from my 40th birthday party. I will enjoy each and every stage with all that is in me. Because, that's the good stuff!~