I have had the privilege of a high school intern from Virginia working with my company. A lovely young lady, full of energy and promise. She was interning as a student of a class on leadership and I was struck by the education she was getting in our small town. We are a community of leaders.
Her aunt, a close friend of mine, runs her own business writing grants for non-profit organizations, additionally her aunt's husband runs his own business as a solar engineer, helping people build energy efficient homes. She also went white water boating with our good friend Joe Powell, owner of Waterwolf who makes really great boats for white water (which is what we mainly use it for) but is adaptable to all sorts of water sports. In fact, almost all of the people that Megan met here in Telluride were entrepreneurs. And it struck me how different that is from other places. I was recently at a dinner party of about 10 people and someone remarked that all of us supported ourselves with our own companies.
Perhaps this is because, as you grow older in a mountain town, the jobs available are not personally or financially suitable. Therefore you make a choice of leaving or staying and making your own way. Additionally, I would like to think that people who fall in love with mountains are stubborn, romantic and idealistic -- dreamers. And perhaps the mountains have taught them to stay true to what they believe and they will reward them in the end. We're all getting our mortgages paid.
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