Vermont

Yes, ILOVERMONT.  Or I Heart Vermont.  Doesn't matter how you say it, it's true.  If only it wasn't so far north!  I would seriously consider moving there, but if I am struggling with the long New Jersey winters, how could I possibly survive in Vermont?

The first time I visited Vermont was when I was in my early thirties.  I was enrolled in a low-residency MFA program at Vermont College in Montpelier.  I spent five two-week periods in the Green Mountain State, summer and winter, and just loved my time there.  A few years later, when Pete and I were knee-deep in children and careers and everything else that can take the shine out of a marriage, we started escaping to Vermont for three-day weekends at some point in December.  My mother would take care of the kids, and Pete and I would drive to Bennington or Arlington to stay at some sweet bed-and-breakfast inn, the likes of which Vermont is known for.  And those weekends were wonderful!  We would ice skate, cross-country ski, visit Hildene (Robert Todd Lincoln's estate), spend hours browsing the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, shop at Bennington Potters, drive up Mount Equinox, drink Long Trail, and most importantly, reconnect with one another.  I loved those Vermont weekends.

All good things must end.  The last time Pete and I went to Vermont was in the summer of 2002, about six months before he died.  We were celebrating the Summer Solstice with our dear friends, Jim and Lois.  I don't think we knew then that it would be our last visit to Vermont together.

Fast forward seven years, and my son and I are looking at colleges.  There were a couple of others he liked in New England, but when we visited the University of Vermont in Burlington, it was a done deal.  And now, four years later, there are no regrets.  I have loved visiting him in Burlington, and when I drove home from there today for the last time, I could not help but feel sad that my "connection" to Vermont is no more.

However . . .

Last year, my daughter Jenna spent a year in Quechee, Vermont, working with raptors at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science as part of an AmeriCorps job.  And now, anticipating her return to the States from a year working in Australia, she has some applications  in at various Vermont locations.  So who knows?  I could have that Vermont connection again, right?

One way or another, I will find my way back to Vermont.  We always find our way back to the things that we love, don't we?