April 2019
Would you like to live the rest of your life in Crestone?
Barbara Hoeppner
I definitely want to live the rest of my life in Crestone. I came here when I was 50 and now I'm 74. Right when I arrived, it was like coming home. I met my village, my tribe. And I don't belong in the outside world anymore - I've been here too long! (laughing) However, I’ve found as you get older it proves difficult to be here, simply because your body starts to fail and you have to see doctors who are a long way away. And I don't go out as much, so I don't have as much company, or a social life like I used to, because my body just can't handle it.
Also, the cost of living here has gone up so much compared to what it used to be and the rental units are high. Older women in my age group weren’t taught to be self-sufficient, but to get married and have kids, which many of us did, but it didn't last. So we end up without retirement funds or much Social Security to keep us going. Because of that, I think having affordable housing for seniors, which Crestone Peak Community Housing is trying to do, is really important. We’d have a community of people we can be stimulated by and share things with. Live in community. We're old hippies. That's what we wanted to do. Now we can do it! (laughing) Most of the older people I know who’ve left Crestone did so for medical reasons or to be closer to family. And this is my family. We speak the same language. And it's absolutely beautiful here. I just love it!
Russ Priester
Well, I would like to stay here more or less the rest of my life, as much as anybody can know that, right? But I like it because I'm retired now and I don't have to work, so I'm able to do it. What I like about Crestone is it's kind of off the beaten path; it's like on the edge of the world, where you can actually be free to be yourself. And the Crestone energy supports a person's growth. In fact, if you don't do your internal work, then it can spit you out.
So, I'm in my journey full time now instead of having to work and do things that I don't want to do, so I can live how I want to live and do things that I want to do, not having to put those off. I just built a little cabin, I’ve been doing my inner work, and love being out here in nature. I'm at the foot of a trail and the foot of a mountain. And the natural beauty here is astounding to me. And again, just the spiritual atmosphere, and the community which, I think, is up and coming and it's really getting stronger. And that's really important to me to feel like I can belong to a community.
Jeff Winsett
Yes! I've lived here for 21 years, and the day I arrived, I was home and I knew it. The community here feels like one giant family to me. There's been a lot of grief in the last 21 years: the POA, the Baca, the Ambulance... I think it's all starting to work itself out now and I’ll be able to make it through a life of growing old here. I think it's a giant community with a giant base of Crestone economics hard at work, with all the support of Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Little Shepherds, the Food Bank, the people I know around town - their hearts, that they give, and the new people arriving. New people have a tendency to come into town and try to change the politics in their own way and then they pack up 3-4 years later like, "Argh! Crestone! Ooof.." and they're out. So, then we’ve got to go back and fix things. This is a town of spiritual growth, a spiritual community, where families help families, and families help grow families. I've seen people come here, look at this mountain and say, "Oh, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!" and they live here for two or three years and then Mother Mountain says "You gots to go!" And it all has to do with this energy flow here and this Mother Mountain, and the whole Native American bloodshed that happened here when the Spanish came. Before that, it was a peaceful place, and we're trying to bring it back to being a peaceful place. We don't need any more of this hatred and grief. We just need to work together as one.
Tilly Reed
I want to live the rest of my life in Crestone. I'm not sure health-wise if I'll be able to, but I will forever keep my home and come back here. But health issues are really a problem. It's just in the past year I've started having to think about this. I'm still finding out, but if I can't breathe I don't know how I would stay here because I don't want to be attached to an oxygen tank. My dear friend Naomi went to Phoenix because she was having breathing problems. And it's just difficult because I've lived all over the world and I have never lived anyplace like this before, where nobody's needs aren't met if at all possible.
I bought my land in 2002, so I've been here 17 years here now, but I haven't really been here. I've been working abroad in international development, with women and on gender issues, and youth and human rights. Twice a year I'd come home: in July for a month to do the music festival (which isn't anymore!), and at Christmas.
I'm contemplating buying a piece of land in Texas on a lake. For now, I’d just like to build a little house there for winter and early spring. I love to garden, and it's pretty outside, but it's too cold to garden, so... I'm going to stay here as long as I possibly can, hopefully forever.
Neola Talon
Absolutely, yes. When my son was born I had a very strong message that I needed to find higher ground. Colorado called to me and I began my quest. My son, James, was 15 by the time we found Crestone. And there was a feeling, an essence here I’ve never felt in my life. I’ve traveled around the world, living a few years in Jerusalem, and to consider that the Holy Land, well, when I came here, my heart told me this is the Holy Land. My son also felt it. It was difficult convincing him to come to a place with so few people, but when he arrived I could see he was so freed. I knew this is where we’d been called because I can't even begin to tell you how serendipitous it’s all been; then being invited back (I was gone almost two years in Arizona) and hearing the mountains calling to me again, telling me I'm home.
I recently spoke with a woman I'd met before who asked, "You understand about the Sangre de Cristo Mountains?" I said, "Yeah, I really feel I do," and she replied, "It's the blood of Christ and they're calling their family home. You get it?" I said, "Oh, am I getting it!" This is why we need to make Crestone our permanent home. It’s home for us in our hearts because of the essence. It makes me feel like I have a chance to really get back to the earth, turn the earth, be organic and feel part of a community, as such.
Grace Woods
Well, that's a good question! When I came here 20 years ago, I knew I was going to be here for the rest of my life. And now that I've been here for three years, every other minute, I'm either going to run, I'm going to dig in deeper, I'm going to clear what needs to be cleared, I'm going to work with the peaks. So, my mantra right now is "waiting for further instructions," so I don't really know. I know that I was called, and I know that people are called to come here to do very important work for the Collective, for our global family. I'm waiting for those instructions so that I can do my work for our bigger family. So yes, I would like to be here the rest of my life, but I don't know. I love Crestone. I'm in love with this place. And that's about all I have to say about that!