When I decided to leave smoggy crime-filled Southern California, the Alps were going to be my next home.
I had lived on both American coasts and had traveled to every state in the union. Then on April 6, 2001, around noon, my husband and I were in an horrific accident on the California 15 Freeway in the Mojave Desert. We were the innocent victims of 2 beat-up old trucks playing a sick game of road-tag-rage, and forced off the road. My husband fought valiantly in our forced swerve to keep us on the road and upright at the speed of 70+ mph, going downhill. The truck drivers had pulled alongside each other -blocking the 2 lane highway -and put on their brakes. My husband was a gentle man who would never hurt anyone on purpose; and if by accident, would suffer with guilt until he could put things straight. He died before we could be life-flighted to the closest medical center. I awoke almost a week later hooked up to IVs in an intensive care unit. My right wrist was crushed and held stable by a large metal external fixator swathed in bandages.
To my dismay and then sudden horror, I opened my eyes and looked into the concerned eyes of my older brother. The family member who would never take an airplane trip if he could drive somewhere. I realized that things -whatever those "things" were - had to be pret-ty bad to pry my brother out of Cleveland Ohio.
My husband and I owned a home in a beautiful neighborhood in CA, within a gated community. After his violent death, I no longer felt safe on the roads in Southern CA, even with a house alarm for added security measures.
Every screeching brake... every quiet 'thump' on the outside walls of my home at night set off my panic attacks.
I had always wanted to return to Switzerland after performing there years before.
After the tragedy, I decided to do just that.
"It took us a couple of days to get to you after the accident.....it would take us a week to get to you if you were in an accident in Europe. "
My siblings talked me out of it.
I began searching America for a substitute...with the best of both worlds.
That is how I came to live in the Colorado Rocky mountains.
