Other Side Of The Mountain

Other Side Of The Mountain

It’s funny how life takes you places you never thought you would go. It’s a good thing that we don’t always know what life has in store for us. Sometimes I wish I could see what the future held but in my more sane moments I am thankful that I don’t know. It would ruin the surprise.

Judy and I got married forty years ago in a little stone chapel in Duluth, Minnesota. At the time we thought we would make our home along the shores of Lake Superior. It wasn’t two months later; we were in a U Haul, heading in the opposite direction. Our life together started by running a ski lodge in the Bridger Mountains of southwest Montana. I would have never guessed that would happen.

But that was just the beginning. After three ski seasons at the lodge, we packed up and moved into a small parsonage in Helena, the capital of Montana for two years and then on to the inner city of Minneapolis for six years. Hard to believe but now it was back in the U Haul for a return trip to Montana, this time on the Hi Line in Havre. It was here we bought our first home and lived there for nine years.

Just when we felt that we had finally settled in for a long season in Havre, it was time to load two U Hauls and head back to Minneapolis. We bought our second home and prepared for a long stay. That lasted eight years before another and hopefully our last U Haul trip. Three moves from Minneapolis to Montana are enough for one marriage.

The irony of all this is that now we live on the opposite side of the mountain where we started all those years ago. Yes, here we are in Bozeman again where we spent the first years of our marriage. We have aged and the city has grown but the mountains remain the same. I must say that the Bridger Mountains grow on you. The beauty of the snow capped peaks against the big, blue sky continues to be a feast for the eyes.

The Bible says, “The mind of man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps.” I confess that my mind could never plan what God had in store for us. All those miles have finally brought us home.