Utah would be a nice place to live… Nah

My wife used to be the most avid lover of the outdoors in our family. How she hikes is a subject of jokes, teasing, and heated arguments too. If she says we are going for a nine-mile hike, it will end up being thirteen miles. She’d plan in advance, she’d always carry the map, and her orientation skills are good; whenever there is a trail sign, she’d cross-check with the map. So it’s not like she gets lost or tries to trick us. Well, I don’t what it is, how it happens. But the mistakes are always, always in one direction: we hike more, never less. The kids whine. I whine a little too. I don’t mind hiking but I mind our four kids whining. So during our hikes, I’d keep checking, “Are you sure it’s only this many miles?”. At first, she’d reply “Yes”. Then she’d say, “That’s what the map says.”

Then we know we’re hiking a lot more than agreed. Happens every time.

Now I’m the one who is the biggest fan of the outdoors. Because my passion for running knows no limits. I hate treadmills. I run every day and I appreciate being able to step out and start my run, no matter the season. California is perfect for that. These days we spend a lot of time in Florida. It’s hot and humid but I can still do that — step outside and start running.

Often we’d have the conversation about where we’d live if we could live anywhere. It’s a silly debate because there are so many constraints — our kids’ tennis (we moved to damn Florida!), our kids in general, and our finances. But it’s always nice to imagine yourself…