Goodbye, Grass Valley

I bid goodbye to Grass Valley Saturday morning. Went out with Cowboy Jason and Cindy to the Gray Goose bar, a place as close to "Cheers" as any bar I ever plan to step foot inside. It reminds me a bit of the place Cherie and I used to go to in Las Vegas for karaoke, Calico Jack's. They called me the "Karaoke Comrade" over there all those years ago.

Anyway, was a bittersweet night for us. The bar's owners, Duane and Johnna, are such nice people -- friendly, and they know how to mix a mean highball of fruit juice. Jason and I always get to sing lots, though I end up singing way more than Jason most times. A few people were there from work -- though none from the editorial side of things. That's OK. We had a very nice time, and Johnna made me a cake. A very decadent, rich bomb of a cake. It was huge. And it was so very nice of her and Duane and the crew to think of me.

I have several groups of friends, two of which are very diverse and somewhat opposite. One is my circle of LDS friends, the people whom I would basically give my life for if asked. The other is a similar group, but different. These are people like Cowboy Jason, his girlfriend and others. They aren't LDS. They do some things I don't -- like hang out in a bar or drink a bit. But they're good friends nonetheless. They never, ever pressured me to drink, and respected the fact that I didn't. It's good to have a wide range of friends, just as long as your principles aren't compromised. I hope that sounds OK.

I will miss people like Jason, and Cindy, and Duane and Johnna, and assorted friends with names like T.J. and Ryan. I will also very much miss my most wonderful, caring and loyal friends whom I have known in Grass Valley for years, like the Southam family, the Mullennax family, the Deans, the Richardsons, the Philipsons, the Griffiths, and on and on. Those people -- my church family -- made it so much easier to return to Grass Valley after being gone for three years.

I will always love Grass Valley -- when I arrived for an interview at The Union in July 2001, I thought two things: How high am I going to climb on this mountain highway, and Cherie's gonna think this place sucks, because there's no mall, no big Borders bookstore or general conveniences she was used to in Las Vegas. But we made it work. We got married, I joined the church, Destiny was baptized and Isaac and Savannah were blessed in Grass Valley. For the first time in my career, I was successful at writing over a long period of time. I got it. I understood what it meant to provide for my family and be a husband and father. I learned a lot that first go-round.

The second time was equally enlightening for different reasons. I learned, hopefully, how to become a better friend, a trusted confidante, and I also learned that keeping things you hold dear: your family, your friends, even your job, is important. Life changes quickly, and often without you even realizing it. My friends in the ward taught me to seek guidance from the Lord and listen to His promptings, and they also taught me that friendship, no matter how long it may go dormant, can be rekindled. I will always love them for that. My friends outside of church taught me that it is OK to have fun, to enjoy yourself, even if you are grieving inside. It is OK to enjoy life.

As I prepare to move, however, my focus will become transfixed on my children and improving their lives and my own. I don't really have time for other things, and quite frankly, don't want to have time for anything else but them and improving myself. I am nervous to start this new chapter, but it is what Heavenly Father wants me to do, and it is what I must do for the betterment of myself and the people I love. There will be time, sometime, for karaoke and Roy Rogers mocktails, again. But for now, it's time to focus on what the Lord put me here on the Earth to do: to improve myself and the lives of my loved ones.