I Made It With a Mountain Man

By Little Sis, 2-04-08

I’m sure New West readers have forgotten about me by now—although I’d be flattered to think that some of you were wondering, “Gosh, where is Little Sis?  I miss her witty, devastatingly funny columns.”

The truth is that a.) I left the country for several months to work with young women in a developing country, which doesn’t necessarily induce devastatingly funny witticisms, and b.) I got myself a sweetie.  (GASP!!) Yes, the perpetually single and liberally-loving Little Sis has fallen head-over-heels in love.  I Made It (your non-dirty interpretation goes here).

What’s the problem been, then, you may ask?  Doesn’t having a honey mean that she has all the more to write about?  What’s her excuse for the several-month hiatus?  Because (I’m really good at answering my own questions), although Big Sis and I write under genius pseudonyms, most of the population west of the divide has figured out who we are.  That makes it a little difficult to want to divulge the details of your love life to an enlightened population.  I don’t know why it’s better to divulge them to people who don’t know you—it just is. 

But I guess I can let you in on a few details that make him the best sweetie possible, and one I never would have expected before I moved to Montana.  I grew up in the West, but I’ll be the first one to tell you that California is really a world of its own where these details aren’t all that applicable.

• He looks incredibly sexy in a cowboy hat and a giant belt buckle.
• I’m an alpine skier (not very good) and he’s a bad-ass, cliff-jumping tele skier, but he never makes fun of my multiple wipeouts.
• He lets me take first turns on a powder day (after he’s showed me his secret stash and told me there would be severe consequences if I showed it to anyone else).
• He cooks elk for me.
• He lets me walk in front when we’re hiking.
• He lets me drive his diesel flatbed (on occasion).
• He knows the answers to my questions on everything from wolf management to what “ice heaves” are.
• He has the requisite yellow lab/retriever, who now only barks moderately when my sweetie and I hug.
• He said that maybe, after a little more time, he might put my name on his Kettlehouse mug.

So don’t worry, just because I found myself an incredible mountain man doesn’t mean my hiatus from Makin’ It is permanent.  Although some of you might have wished it was...It just means that the content is going to be a little different—more social commentary and less (read: none) dating.  Kinda like the feeling of driving a diesel when you’re used to a Ford Focus.  It’s fun, trust me.