Sterling Drew Roddan

Do you call Sterling Sterling or do you call Sterling Drew? Depends if you live in a residence or you live in a home.

Lea Ann and I are living in the straw bale cabin in upstate Wyoming, 25 miles west of Cody and about 20 miles from the east gate of Yellowstone Park, that Drew built pretty much all by himself in 2003.

It's not easy living, it's good but it's not easy.
To say the cabin is in the middle of nowhere is to tell the truth. Even today, walking around the property, I'm still amazed and surprised by the weird beauty of the place, in the volcanic foothills beneath the Absorkas, and how, if there's a god, god must be looking at me like the strange aliens we both are, but happy we've each found a home.

Still, I can't imagine building a home up here. Drew not only imagined it, he built it
and the straw bale studio down below where I go everyday to write and to escape from writing.

Sometimes The Wind blows 48 hours in one day.The temperature can drop 30 degrees in 15 minutes. It's snowed in June. The little creek beside the studio, Wall Creek, can be dry one moment and raging the next--this happened once again just two days ago. Just when you think you know the place it changes and becomes a place you've never known, will never know, don't want to know.

Drew was 24 when he built the studio and cabin. I was there for the groundbreaking and helped a little at the beginning--hauling the straw bales, helping set the forms for the foundation--but he built the house and studio. I'm pretty sure he didn't know what he was doing, at least the full extent of it or what he was up against building in the wild, but he made it happen, and even rode three different bulls in the Cody Rodeo, lucky that he only broke a collarbone and smart to make that his last ride.

Drew's 35 today, October 1, 2013. He lives in Portland, Oregon now with Ashley, his wife, and their two daughters, Grace and Emme.
He's re-building an old home they bought in Lake Oswego, probably pounding nails as I write this, though I hope not.

When you're a parent the most you can hope is that your child lives the life they imagine living, with the people they want to live with, in the place they want to be. Happy birthday from Wyoming, Drew. I hope your life is making you as happy as you've made me.