Siri, Define Local
For starters I am going to offer up an apology. A semi-sincere plea for forgiveness, understanding and acceptance to those who can call themselves Locals of this great valley. My friend Siri defines Local as belonging or relating to a particular area, typically exclusively so...When used as an adjective. I'm going to add the qualifier that to be considered a true local, a person should have attended all or part of high school in the Flathead.
Forgive me for being part of the problem. The Influx. The Imposters donning heathered cotton-poly shirts with the word HOME nestled inside the silhouette of our great state while their license plates still say things like The Golden State or Wild Rose. Forgive me also for the hypocrisy of pulling in my uHaul (from The Golden State of course) expecting your acceptance whilst turning back and freely handing out annoyed glares to the migratory patterns of those behind me..
Let's be real for a second. The majority of you reading this right now are like me. You hail from somewhere else but you were exposed at a younger age, seduced even. You went back. home and you couldn't shake it. Subconsciously a plan was set in motion, opportunities weren't necessarily looked for, but they were not dismissed. Eventually the stars aligned and you staked your claim for a future in the Flathead.
I feel like the following verse from Sir Paul McCartney sums up my youthful sentiments towards the Flathead:
What can I do, what can I be
When I'm with you I want to stay there
If I'm true I'll never leave
And if I do I know the way there
Got to get you into my life
The Flathead that I fell in love with is the 90's Flathead. I have fond recollections of the old Sportsman Ski Haus on Idaho Ave., now it's Flathead Industries. I smile when I remember watching Jurassic Park with a mess of cousins at the Liberty Theater in downtown Kalispell, now it houses the Fresh Life Church. I look at Woody's Country Store and remember how meant to my young mind that Echo Lake was near. Echo. Lake is my Happy Place and a big reason I met my wife who...wait for it...is a Canadian, a Wild Rose even. Surprise, Surprise. I'm breaking all the rules here. By the way, Woody's hasn't changed at all, and I greatly appreciate that.
Our Crown Jewel, Glacier National Park, had over one million visitors in the month of July alone. This is Montana, we should never have one million of anything. Don't hate the player, hate the game. But you can't hate the game either because the game just happens to be that we live in an amazing place and people want to come and see it for themselves. Our job is to meet them with a big Montana Smile because most of us were just like them once. They are all going back home but we're not going anywhere, because this is our home and come September we'll have it all to ourselves. So take your big Montana Smile into the Montana Shirt Co. and rock that "Home" shirt because your license plate says The Treasure State.
Read Siri, Define Local and other Smile Montana articles by Dr. John F. Miller, DDS, in 406 Woman magazines.