The Move

The move was abrupt, no doubt. Uprooting the family from a place we all love very much and moving to a place we had only heard of was not in line with our collective character. We are creatures of habit. Or we were, but then we weren’t, and now we are again. The habits we have already formed have made being in Arizona easier. I work a lot and the boys are in pre-school two or three days a week. Katie has been running the household, taking care of the boys, trying to sell our home in Crested Butte, run a massage referral business, line up clients to work with when we get back to CB for Christmas, and nurse her sore shoulder.

Most of the pre-conceptions (if you can call them that) about how much time I was going to have to ride and all the vacation time I was going to have have been shattered. I don’t really mind because it has been an awakening of mind and spirit. We made a big jump on so many levels coming to the Verde Valley School. Diving into the Director of Technology role has been a complete emersion into not only technology, but the history of the school, the history of the networks, the people who built and maintain the networks and the people who are still involved, though their time at the Verde Valley School has passed.

This is a place where people work hard, long hours and are totally dedication to educating the children. The physical plant has a lot of “deferred maintenance” in Graham’s parlance. It is tired and the maintenance crew works hard to keep it running. The staff is tired from all the work. The kids work hard – I can’t believe how hard they work. And the kids are nice – to each other and to the staff. While I can’t say what kind of hijinks they are up to when no one is looking, there is a certain amount of trust and liberal philosophy that gives them room to do their thing.

The school has seen better days, business-wise. One of the major reasons I wanted to come was because I saw that the school was in flux. By coming when we did, I have a chance to make significant change at slightly less than glacial pace. I have a chance to influence direction more than I would if I came into a school that was fat and happy. I like that Graham has been open about the state of the business including sharing numbers with people and espousing the philosophy that he doesn’t want to ask people for money until we can show that the school is pulling itself up by the bootstraps. We are not in a Crested Butte Academy distress-situation, so there is a good sense of pressure to work to make things excellent without there being the feeling of impending doom – which I totally ignored in CB.

There are constant challenges here. We thought the boys would fall right into step with all the kids who live here on campus, but they are little kids and it became very evident that there would not be immediate love amongst the boys, especially. There is teaming up, jealousy, fighting, and all the things kids have to go through when they are new to a scene. Kai is very bossy, very physical, and pretty sensitive, too. Gus goes with the flow quite well, but is often caught up in Kai’s world. They are in the same pre-school class, so they spend a lot of time together. They have shown a great deal of love for each other and generally play well together. Most mornings the boys are up and playing before Katie and I are up. We love hearing them playing together while we lay in bed.

Crested Butte is a magical place and we miss the community there. Returning for Christmas is something we all look forward to. I fell lucky to have been there as long as I was. A realization about being here is that this is such an opportunity to grow and learn. I grew and learned a lot in Crested Butte, but leaving because the opportunity was greater elsewhere was such an awakening. Maybe we can get back to CB some day, but maybe we will go somewhere else. Or maybe we will stay here. The idea of being able to educate our kids in the kind of environment provided at VVS is so appealing.

For now we are in the groove in AZ and working hard to make everything work. The holidays are upon us and it is time to take a breath and see where we are and where we are going.