Being unsentimental about a sentimental journey

We have all paid a visit to something in our past a time or two and, for the most part, the trip is usually an enjoyable one. Sometimes though, the sentimental journey turns out to be a destination better left alone, something unfortunately, you don't know until you go there. This was the depressing lesson I learned last Monday when, after Mom's last doctor's appointment in Carson City, I thought a ride along the east side of Washoe Valley would be a fun little excursion before returning home.

Before moving to Topaz Ranch Estates, I had lived in Washoe Valley. I loved our house at the end of a road, backing up to BLM lands on two sides with the endless trails I had used for horseback riding and an uninterrupted view of SlideMountain and Mt. Rose to the west. I always used to jokingly say, "I may be sitting in the cheap seats but I had a million-dollar view."

When my husband became ill, we had to sell the house and move somewhere more affordable. I also wanted to be closer to my sister who lived at Topaz Lake. As painful as it was for me to leave a home I loved, I was comforted by the young couple who bought the house. They were excited about every part of it and anxious to finish some of the projects we had planned but had been unable to complete. That was the summer of 2003 when I closed the door on my Washoe Valley home for the last time and never looked back until curiosity got the better of me Monday.

I have no idea if the exuberant young couple still owns the house but, as I rounded the curve in the road heading toward the house, I couldn't believe what I saw. I had always envisioned a beautifully finished home, as it should have been, and I should have left that vision right where it belonged, in my imagination, instead of what I was seeing in reality.

A half dozen vehicles in various stages of obvious disrepair decorated what was once a tidy, landscaped front yard. The front deck, which had been my box-seat to watch many brilliant sunsets, had needed to be replaced when we sold the house and, still in need of replacement, was now sagging with missing railings, clinging precariously to the upper story of the house. I had been anxious to see five years of growth on the flowering plum tree and the white birch trees we had planted to commemorate two wedding anniversaries but they were gone. The bay window I had loved so much in the master bedroom had been torn out and replaced with a small window on an unfinished wall that still partially revealed the color that the house had once been.

I will have to admit that the overall picture was not enhanced by the overcast sky and an infamous Washoe Zephyr that was sending loose trash on a tumbling migration across the property. The 30-year-old silver lace hedge, which I had patiently groomed into a flat wall of privacy for the back yard, was now a leafless tangled jungle of long runners entwining everything and going anywhere they wanted to go. Were my precious rose bushes, Mother's Day presents for several years, still there? Probably not.

As I slowly drove away, grateful that I hadn't been able to see the inside of the house, it took me a while to stop feeling bad. My high expectations that the house had been cared for, had not been realized. It was not until I came home that I realized it didn't really matter. That was the past and what's really important to me is the person I am with now, our todays, tomorrows and working for our future and not an imaginary vision of something that had once been. I had that odd feeling of a door I had left ajar, close behind me. So, maybe a sentimental journey was not such a bad thing after all as it has a marvelous way of sharpening the focus on what is important in the present.

What's happening

It's time for the annual Jackie Giorgi Scholarship Cow Pasture Golf Tournament fundraiser in Antelope Valley, April 5 at the Giorgi ranch, one mile down Topaz Lane in the pasture on the right. Sign up time begins at 8 a.m. with tee-off at 9 a.m. followed by a delicious rib barbecue with all the fixin's. Cost is $25, including the golf game or $12 just for the lunch. There will also be a raffle with many wonderful prizes. Come on out for this great event but remember to watch out for the steaming divots! Information Dave, (530) 495-2822 or Clint, (530) 495-2935.

-- The Topaz Lodge Fishing Derby is still in full swing until April 13. There is still plenty of time to catch the big one. Information, call the lodge, 266-3888.

Until next week, may what is important in our present, keep on keepin' on for our future.

-- Jonni Hill can be reached at JHILL47@aol.com.