20. Forest Grove Gossip Gal
Forest Grove Gossip Gal
Sixth and Final Edition
Forest Grove Gossip Gal
Your anonymous source for everything happening in Silver County.
The Hat, The Kiss, and Goodbye
Posted: Early November, Forest Grove, MT
I have been sitting with this column for several days now, trying to decide how to write it.
That has never happened to me before. Usually, the words come easily. Usually, I have more to say than space to say it in. I am the one with the observations and the opinions and the carefully placed ellipses, and the rest of you are the ones doing the wondering.
This time, I find myself on the other side of that.
So let me start with the part that is easy and work my way toward the part that is not.
THE BARN DANCE…
I was right.
I want to say that plainly and without apology, because I have been saying it in careful language, and the night of the barn dance finally gave me permission to just say it outright.
I was right.
The long-haired cowboy from the Off-Duty Rescue Ranch and the auburn-haired farrier danced together in the middle of that pavilion in front of all of Forest Grove.
When the song ended, he took the hat off his own head and put it on hers, and then he kissed her like a man who had been waiting a very long time for the right moment and had recognized it with no help from anyone.
The crowd responded accordingly.
I may have responded accordingly myself, whooping it up from my position near the apple cider table, but I will neither confirm nor deny that.
I will say this: I have been observing the people of this county for a while now, and I have seen a lot of things. I have seen nothing quite like the expression on Daisy Wylde’s face in that moment.
Pure joy.
It was the most beautiful thing I had seen at any event I have ever covered.
I am glad I was there to see it.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED THAT NIGHT…
I will not write about the rest of it in the way I would usually write about things.
Some of you were there. All of you have heard by now or probably seen the reports on TV.
Trevor Brewster is in custody, facing charges I will leave to the legal system to enumerate.
Sheriff Patrick’s cold case investigation is officially open.
The November election has only one candidate left on the ballot.
Silver County is going to be all right, safe once again in the capable hands of Sheriff Patrick.
I believe that with everything I have.
As for the man who went down in that orchard cottage, making sure the woman he loved came home safe, I understand he is recovering well, which is the best news this column has ever had the privilege of reporting.
Some people in this town wear the word hero uncomfortably, like it does not quite fit.
Others wear it the way they wear everything, without making a fuss, and only when they have to.
I think he knows by now that he has earned it.
AND NOW, THE PART THAT IS NOT EASY…
When I started writing the Forest Grove Gossip Gal, I told myself it was harmless. A little fun. A way to celebrate this town and the people in it, to shine a light on the good things happening here, to remind us all that Forest Grove was worth paying attention to.
And I believe that. Still. With my whole heart and soul.
But somewhere along the way, I forgot that the people I was writing about were not characters in a story.
They were real people, with genuine fears and real wounds and actual reasons for wanting to keep certain things private.
People who had not asked to be observed.
People who deserved better than having their lives annotated by someone with a newsletter and a tendency toward ellipses.
People who are closer to me than I ever let on.
I never meant for any of it to cause hurt. I want to say that clearly, to anyone who may have felt the sting of being seen when they were not ready to be seen. I am more sorry for that than I know how to say in a format that has always prided itself on saying everything.
And so, with a full heart and a grateful one, the Forest Grove Gossip Gal is signing off. For good.
FINAL THOUGHT…
I started this column believing that love was the best story this town had to tell. I still believe that, and believe it more now than when I started, having watched it show up this year in harvest fields and orchard cottages, cozy cabins and hockey arenas, and barns and hospital rooms.
Love does not always look the way you expect it to.
Sometimes it looks like a man showing up with a truck full of deadbolts.
Sometimes it looks like dancing in public when you have been afraid of being public for a very long time.
Or sometimes it looks like a man rescuing a woman from a past she outgrew.
I have been lucky enough to have a front-row seat to all of it. And I hope, somewhere down this road, in the fullness of time, that someone will have a front-row seat to my great love. Whenever he shows up.
Until then, Forest Grove, be good to each other.
You have always been worth writing about.
With love, always —
The Forest Grove Gossip Gal
(Retired)
#ForestGrove #ThatsAWrap #TheHatSaysEverything #TrustTheProcess #SilverCountyStrong #SheWasRight #GoodbyeForNow #IsThisTrulyTheEnd #StayTunedForMore #FallorNothing #CowboyCarter