Member-only story
Small Town Life Prepared Me for Isolation
Turns out, the period of my life I thought was the worst prepared me for surviving social distancing long term.
I’m a forestry brat. For the first twelve years of my life, my dad worked all over the southwest—Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and sometimes California or Nevada. He was on the road a lot, cruising timber sales during the week and, if he was close enough, he would come home for the weekends. Otherwise, he’d stay at seedy motels and send postcards, most of which were to remind my young self to obey my mother and be a good example to my younger siblings.
I always wondered why it mattered where we lived when my dad was traveling all the time. We moved every couple of years, mostly within Arizona, to be nearest the lumber mill that he was currently managing, while he still drove around all over the place to oversee the harvest.
One move in particular is memorable for me for many reasons. The first was that I finally got my first choice teacher at school and I was old enough to start orchestra and learn to play the violin. The beginning of my 5th grade year was everything my 10 year old heart wanted.
And then my dad got transferred to New Mexico.
