Having Teenagers in Alternative, Colorado - Week Two Living Here

When we moved to Alternative, I thought about the fact that we had teenagers and it concerned me. It didn’t so much concern me that we had teenagers as it did that we were moving them to Alternative from our, or their, hometown. They have friends there. They went to school there and would probably continue to do so. Since my wife still works in Fort Collins, I have to drive into town anyway, so I promised them that they could continue attending their school.

Alternative has a school. It has three in fact. It has an elementary school, a middle school and a high school. Alternative, in fact, is the seat of the school district in this part of the county. They provide schooling for over 600 children, which is less than the entire population of the high school that my kids attend.

Marcy McDonald teaches tenth grade math at Alternative High, home of the Aardvarks. The principal, Jordan Beavens, always liked to say that “there are a lot of A’s in Aardvark, and a lot of A’s in Alternative High.” Mr. Beavens liked to think that he was everyone’s best friend, but if you asked Miss McDonald, you would find out that students thought about Mr. Beavens as all students thought about their principal. They feared him as an authority figure. Miss McDonald liked Mr. Beavens and thought that he was a good man who cared about the students.

Miss McDonald happened to be at the only restaurant in Alternative, which happens to be a Mexican restaurant. She happened to be there when my family walked in and sat down for a meal away from the house. Miss McDonald, seeing our teenagers sitting at the table, came over and introduced herself asking if our kids would be going to the local school this fall. We told her that they wouldn’t be. She seemed sincerely disappointed and even though the kids really liked her, I had a feeling that they were going to stick to their guns. I watched as Marcy spoke to the kids about the local teens. Alternative is small but easily hides most of the people there, especially because of the hot days. But Marcy seemed to know the names of several teens that lived in Alternative much to our surprise. She talked about one in particular named Charlie Tanner. He liked to go by Chuck, but people still called him Charlie. She wasn’t sure why, but they did none-the-less. Chuck and his family moved to Alternative from Maryland about two years earlier when his dad got fed up working for the corporate office of one of the countries largest banks and just wanted to settle down in a simpler and quieter life. He figured that moving to a small unassuming town like Alternative, would be good for not only his sanity, but his family’s sanity as well. His first day in Alternative, Chuck’s father felt as if a large weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt more relaxed than he had in a long time. His wife was unsure at first, but quickly learned to love the small town and the people that preceded them there. Chuck took a little longer to convince. As a teen, Chuck had to work at not being an outsider, or at least, that how it felt. His first day at school, though, he was the most popular student there being the new kid. Everyone wanted to know about him, his family, his past and what he wants to do after high school. He had never been so popular and he was happy. Marcy talked about this with my kids. They smiled and nodded and stuck to their guns of going back to their old school. They would eventually meet a few of the local kids and learn that their popularity wasn’t being called into question at all.

The main thing was that our family was together. We had each other to cling to, to grow with and to support. My kids were going to maintain their status in their old school and maintain their mystery in town, bring hoards of new friends to find out who they were and where they went to school. But that’s another story for another time.

That’s the news this week from Alternative, Colorado, where people think different things in a little different way.