Reno, my love
God help me, I actually miss Reno right now.
There are decidedly more interesting, exciting, historic, metropolitan, culturally-diverse places in the world to long for (Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Miami, New Orleans, the list goes on) but Reno will always hold a special place for me.
It's where I grew up into the person I am now, for better or worse.
There are many formative experiences a person can have at any given point in their lives, but I -- like other reservation-born Natives or Upper Midwesterners -- lived a sheltered life. Even after college, when I lived in South Dakota's largest city, I couldn't help but feel something was missing. I realize now that absence was independent growth. Sioux Falls is the safe choice for a lot of people in this state, not too far away, not too big, not too little and one's friends or friends of friends live there. I moved there because my best friend in college moved there and her friends were there and some of my friends were there, it's just what was done.
Then, life uprooted me over 1,400 miles away and I started anew, family in tow.
At that point, Reno was in the midst of the housing boom and was the land of milk and honey. But when that bubble burst, I got to see those who remained for the worst of it all. These were tenacious people who could only see things in terms of opportunity. Looking back now, it may have been slight desperation, but at the time, it was exciting to be among such adventurous people.
In general, Nevada is a transient state. People come and go there for every reason under the sun, some stay and plant roots in the steppes and others wilt immediately and flock to a better climate. I was an in-betweener. I was able to bloom in the harsh environment; I became an activist, a politico and ultimately, a dreamer. The people I met and dreamed with were extremely delightful in certain circumstances and some were delightfully horrid in other circumstances. Reno was a crucible, a place where people go to be tempered.
And now, in these days, I find myself reaping the benefits of having been tested in that environment. I've learned moderation and frugality but exercise the ability to be open and receptive to differing points of view; all the while, keeping quiet, judging sparingly but quietly and always trying to show compassion.
Work is going swimmingly at this point. The pressure to produce grows every week, but I meet some challenges while being able to not get hung up by the unmet challenges. I'm networking with people who are in a position to share my vision and even collaborate where appropriate. I think, though, if I had not gone to that time and place filled with amazing people, I would only look at this period in my life with despair or egregious territorialism, unwilling to be kind or compassionate.
I recently reminded myself, while in the middle of a funk, of something I heard when I was half my current age, "You are exactly where you're meant to be, doing exactly what you're meant to do."
Sometimes, though, on cool spring nights, I breathe in the crisp air and remember that city by the mountains filled with fascinating people and wish I could recapture that period. This time, I think I'll breathe it in and be grateful for every moment that shaped who I am now.
There are decidedly more interesting, exciting, historic, metropolitan, culturally-diverse places in the world to long for (Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Miami, New Orleans, the list goes on) but Reno will always hold a special place for me.
It's where I grew up into the person I am now, for better or worse.
There are many formative experiences a person can have at any given point in their lives, but I -- like other reservation-born Natives or Upper Midwesterners -- lived a sheltered life. Even after college, when I lived in South Dakota's largest city, I couldn't help but feel something was missing. I realize now that absence was independent growth. Sioux Falls is the safe choice for a lot of people in this state, not too far away, not too big, not too little and one's friends or friends of friends live there. I moved there because my best friend in college moved there and her friends were there and some of my friends were there, it's just what was done.
Then, life uprooted me over 1,400 miles away and I started anew, family in tow.
At that point, Reno was in the midst of the housing boom and was the land of milk and honey. But when that bubble burst, I got to see those who remained for the worst of it all. These were tenacious people who could only see things in terms of opportunity. Looking back now, it may have been slight desperation, but at the time, it was exciting to be among such adventurous people.
In general, Nevada is a transient state. People come and go there for every reason under the sun, some stay and plant roots in the steppes and others wilt immediately and flock to a better climate. I was an in-betweener. I was able to bloom in the harsh environment; I became an activist, a politico and ultimately, a dreamer. The people I met and dreamed with were extremely delightful in certain circumstances and some were delightfully horrid in other circumstances. Reno was a crucible, a place where people go to be tempered.
And now, in these days, I find myself reaping the benefits of having been tested in that environment. I've learned moderation and frugality but exercise the ability to be open and receptive to differing points of view; all the while, keeping quiet, judging sparingly but quietly and always trying to show compassion.
Work is going swimmingly at this point. The pressure to produce grows every week, but I meet some challenges while being able to not get hung up by the unmet challenges. I'm networking with people who are in a position to share my vision and even collaborate where appropriate. I think, though, if I had not gone to that time and place filled with amazing people, I would only look at this period in my life with despair or egregious territorialism, unwilling to be kind or compassionate.
I recently reminded myself, while in the middle of a funk, of something I heard when I was half my current age, "You are exactly where you're meant to be, doing exactly what you're meant to do."
Sometimes, though, on cool spring nights, I breathe in the crisp air and remember that city by the mountains filled with fascinating people and wish I could recapture that period. This time, I think I'll breathe it in and be grateful for every moment that shaped who I am now.