Small Town Dreamin

The other night I dreamed that Regan and I moved to Monticello, Utah and then that we moved to Manti, Utah. It was like two simultaneous lives, showing how we'd live in each place. I loved it.

In Monticello, we lived in the house my mom grew up in and my grandpa still lives in. (Sorry, grandpa) We had I think 3 kids and we were renovating the whole house but I was weirdly adamant about some things like that no one touch the store room or the garage because they MUST maintain the same smell they'd had my whole life. I wish I could picture the whole new layout because I've thought many times (while awake) about how I could somehow make that house work for me to raise a family in. On a side note, I'd like to know how many of the 50 grandkids would fight me for this honor. Just curious. Anyway, we had a 10-ish-year-old son that was pretty ticked that we moved there. But obviously, I knew he'd be fine after his first summer of baseball. We all would. No idea what Regan did for a living there. Head up a new Design program at the high school? Work remotely from the shed? Endless possibilities, really.

In Manti, I don't remember as many details. Except that I drove some kind of old boxy car and we had a bunch of scraggly kids. We lived in a really old house that had been renovated (sensing a theme here) and we had a huge yard. I just remember driving through town with all the kids in the boxy car and passing other families in similar situations. Basically it felt like the cover of the old Cheaper By the Dozen book but in real life. Here, Regan taught design at Snow College in Ephraim. And sometimes the 6 mile commute annoyed us.

I'm surprised Pinedale, Wyoming wasn't on this list but maybe another night. I'm pretty sure I idealize small towns. I woke up feeling very nostalgic and wishing either of those could somehow be in our near future. Then again, if they were, I might wake up feeling nostalgic about living in a giant city full of people and trains and garbage.

New York Christmas

Mostly I just felt like we couldn't move on here until I proved that we did, in fact, celebrate Christmas. I don't have much else to say except that any grand, romantic ideas you have about a couple's first married Christmas spent in New York City is probably not how it was. Unless you were thinking of movies and puzzles and hot chocolate and walks and naps and never going to the city or waking up very early or over-extending ourselves in any way. Then you're dead on and you should come hang out with us.