Betcey Ventrella

Yes

Living the Rocky Mountain High life - high as in "altitude", no longer living *that* kind of "high" life!
;-)

I live at 9,000 feet in a town of approximately 250 people, and we have 4 distinct seasons here - Early Winter, Mid-Winter, Late Winter, and August (or, Snow, Deeper Snow, Even Deeper Snow, and No Snow).

After coming up the mountain from a day down in the "flats", I stop the car before pulling in the driveway and get out to look at gazillions of stars. I can see the Milky Way every night.

In the morning I wake up just after dawn, and for the briefest of moments, the snow-covered mountains turn an otherworldly pink-lilac.

I have killer views of the Continental Divide from my window, and my neighbors are foxes, elk, bear, and the occasional mountain lion.

When I drive the 15 minutes into the "big" town of Nederland (pop. 1900), I see tourists with out-of-town plates stopped at every turn, taking pictures of the beautiful scenery, and I remind myself that people come from all over the world to see what I see every day, sitting right here at my desk.

30 years in a nutshell -
Left Richmond right after graduating high school, graduated Art Institute of Atlanta, spent a bunch of years living like a gypsy and traveling around the country.

Moved to Colorado, then moved to Woodstock, NY and opened a bead store in 1987.
Got married, had a baby (not necessarily in that order).

Moved BACK to Colorado in '97, mostly working from home (hooray for the Internet!), spending the rest of the time on the road selling my beads at various bead conventions around the country.

Got old, got fat, still madly in love with my husband.

That's about it!

Would like to try to make it back East for the Reunion, but if I can swing it, it will likely be a last-minute decision.

Art Institute of Atlanta

Yes

Yes

betcey@beyondbeadery.com

I'm beginning to think I'm the only "d@%# hippie" Democrat in our entire graduating class. Scared to go to the reunion for fear of being run out of Richmond!