This is part six of the Remembering Montana series of posts reflecting on my family’s three weeks on a small Montana ranch in the fall of 2018. Some reflections are recently written, but this short post focusing on my daughter came from those I shared with social media while we were at the ranch. Scroll down then navigate back to read previous posts.
Day 8 (September 27, 2018):
The girl is 14 and demonstrating much of a typical 14 yo’s individuation process. In fact, she often fantasizes about living alone and whenever she has our home to herself, she calls it, “living the dream.” She inspired our move this year from the traditional classroom to the world as our classroom (a long story for another day.) Funny, since she’s not a big fan of travel–but she was intrigued by the idea of living with horses and when she found out she’d have her own “apartment”, she decided to embrace this current adventure.
Our second day here, she “moved” into the RV that Jane keeps on the property. It’s a cute little space complete with electricity, but no running water, a sofa, a swivel chair, and a small recliner. I’ve only popped in a few times and saw that she is keeping her temporary home quite tidy (a far cry from how she keeps her bedroom back in Boise.) I noticed the table had been arranged so that when she sits on one side, she can play the electronic keyboard she brought with her, and when she sits on the other side, she draws and paints the characters she’s forever depicting.
She visits us occasionally throughout the day–mostly for meals and to use the bathroom, but also to share some funny podcast with me or to practice on Jane’s piano that she was excited to discover when we arrived! She also visits the horses and donkeys, and rides along on grocery runs when she’s in the mood. I’m amazed that she has no fear traveling back and forth from the RV to the house in the dark, and often uses the bathroom without us even knowing she popped over in the night.
Last night, she even invited us out to her place for a movie (on my laptop.) I hadn’t had Jiffy Pop since I was a kid, I think! It was gross, but what is childhood without at least one Jiffy Pop experience?!
Restoring Justis 