It's called Levan. It's a small rural town right in the middle of Utah with a population of maybe a thousand, and that's generous. We stay at my aunt Lora's parents' second home, which is large enough to comfortably fit several families. You can't even find the house on Google Maps, since the map was last updated before the house was even built. It certainly smells like farmland, and there's really nothing but fields and houses as far as the eye can see—up until the mountains, at least.
And I love it with all my heart.
I've always been really in love with it. The first time we went down to Levan with my mom's family was July 2010—two months after a trip to Capitol Reef with my mom's family and two months preceding a trip to Disneyland with my mom's family. But I remember being so in love with Levan. I don't know if it was because it was just our extended family (whom I love dearly) or because it was new or because it didn't feel like a normal vacation; but I just adored it. Though the trip to Disneyland was definitely the highlight of those 2010 vacations, I was still pleasantly surprised by how much I'd enjoyed Levan, and how much I was looking forward to going back.
Since then, our family has gone—or attempted to go—at least once a year. Lora goes with her family pretty often, but the rest of us look forward to the next annual Levan trip, always ecstatically awaiting the next summer.
It's a time to just chill. To be with loved ones. To eat good food. To play card games. To explore the area. To relax without worrying about work or other responsibilities. Even when I have to do work or when I'd have to do homework while I was in school, it just never feels as burdensome.
It isn't without its stresses, of course. A vacation wouldn't be a vacation without stress, right? There are always kids getting into trouble, ingredients depleting too quickly, ATV accidents, disagreements on what to do, familial bickering. But despite all that, we all love it down here. It's basically our home away from home. Even though it's my aunt's family's gathering place, it feels like our gathering place.
2014 was the lucky year. I managed to go down to Levan three times. The first time was in January—the one and only time I've been in the winter. Lora invited my siblings and me to join her and her kids in going down, assuring us that the sledding was loads of fun. We'd tie the sleds onto the backs of the ATV's and drive around the empty field next to the house. It was even more fun than I'd anticipated, despite the minor concussion I received (but that's for another day). We then went in June for a "moms and kids" celebration of school being out. So it was my mom and siblings, my aunts and cousins, and Lora's sister and sister-in-law and their respective children. If I had to pick, that would probably be my least favorite trip, but that isn't saying much. And then we went again at the end of July into the beginning of August for the usual Wright family trip. It was a marvelous year, let me tell you.
There were a few years in high school when I wasn't able to go, whether because of work or other engagements; and let me tell you, I was always devastated. Our trip in 2019 was going to be the first time I'd been since 2016, but then they planned it for the weekend I was supposed to move back up to Rexburg to start my third semester of college. But I was determined to go, and my parents knew how desperately I'd been hoping to go, so my dad and I went down the weekend before. It was a different trip, of course, since it was just two of us and we were only there for a night. But I was in Levan, and that was all that mattered to me.
I don't remember how old I was when I started saying that Levan was my favorite place in the world. It was probably around my seventh grade year, if I had to hazard a guess. Everyone always reacts in shock upon hearing that, including my family. "Even though you've been to Disneyland and to Cancún?" "You don't even like riding the ATV's, so what do you even do?" "But you go all the time!"
Don't misunderstand; it isn't necessarily my favorite vacation. Cancún is almost certainly my favorite vacation spot I've ever been to. But Levan, Utah, is just my favorite place—or it's at least tied with BYU-Idaho's campus. Levan is quiet and peaceful. I have so many good memories of it. When I say it's my favorite place, I'm not just talking about the house; I mean the town of Levan. The dirt and rocks. The horses in the neighbors' yards. The irrigation sprinklers. The vast, open fields. The not-terribly-distant mountains. The clear-ish sky.
All I want is to live in Levan. That isn't necessarily a viable option at the moment, but it's still my dream. And I think it always will be my dream.
I don't know why I had to tell you any of that...but I'm sitting here in the house and just had to explain this wealth of feelings to someone. I'm in my happy place. I hope you know what yours is.
"Home is knowing we are loved."
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