16 July 2012

Out West, Part Two: Home Again


When I am out west I feel like I am home again. It is both a joyous and sad experience, because the deep love I have for the land is tempered by the understanding that I'll have to leave it.


Standing beneath the big sky with nothing but space around me, I am filled with such yearning it makes my soul ache.


It is so breathtakingly beautiful I spent half the trip blinking back tears, which finally spilled over  during the Cody Stampede opening prayer.  We were there during "Tough Enough To Wear Pink" night, when all the proceeds go to a family fighting cancer. The sun was setting, the rodeo was about to start, and the announcer, Randy Schmutz, asked us all to bow our heads. He led us in prayer for the safety of the cowboys, for the men and women in our armed services, asked for strength for those battling cancer, and we thanked the Lord for our great land. It was lovely to be part of the community at that moment.


I know that visiting a place is not the same as living there. I'm sure the good folks out west have the same concerns that I do in New Jersey. I imagine they worry about their children and their friends, wonder where our country is headed, try and figure out how to keep their jobs and pay their bills.
So I know my life wouldn't be all that different if I was living in Montana.


Except for the land.
The land that unfurled before me, uncluttered and free, rolling and rising to meet the jagged, jutting peaks, ignorant of my insignificant presence, its call a constant thrum, like the rumble of distant water.
Beautiful.


18 comments:

  1. Wow. Gorgeous. I feel the exact same way when I'm near the ocean. It overwhelms me with the joy of it. The smell, the sounds, the feel, the awesomeness of just SEEING it near me.

    Glad you were able to go, and reconnect. (Oh yeah, baby. That is SO a past life!)

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    1. The water is my M.I.L's home. We used to chuckle at the end of vacation when she would go up to the beach and say good-bye to the ocean. For years she brought a jar of sand and water home that she'd keep in the refrigerator until she went back the next year. We used to chuckle, but now I totally get it. I would have brought home the mountains if I could.

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    2. Good stuff about having tears spill over. Every time we leave Aruba, I always catch my wife shedding a few - hard to leave the turquoise waters of the Caribbean

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  2. The land, the desert, the ocean - all of it empties out your worries if you just sit and be with it. Haven't done that in a while. Sounds like you did.
    Beautiful pics.

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    1. I think everyone has a place that's special. The trick, I suppose, is figuring out how to go there without actually leaving our real homes!

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  3. Beautiful - both your pictures and your words. Thank you for sharing them with us.

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    1. Thank YOU for reading! You and I both know New Jersey has some beautiful places-mountains and beaches all in one state! But the mountains out west...oh my.

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  4. That's Magnum's kind of place right there. If he could have found work out there, I'm sure that's where we'd be living right now. I love the ocean, but I think I could be just as happy in the mountains by a lake or river. I love to listen to the water. Beautiful.

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    1. We have the same issue. Darn that pesky need to make a living! The Captain's company still has corporate headquarters, and they have meetings, in person! It's very antiquated.I told him in the future everyone will telecommute, but he says not from Montana. Yet.

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  5. Lakes and mountains are my thing. I can sit all day and watch the changing colors of the mountains.

    Your photos are gorgeous. They make me want to get up and go ride a horse. So glad you had a good trip, even if it was sad to leave.

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    1. I wish I could ride a horse! Half the kids said they would move to a ranch if we had horses, and I bribed the others with the promise of open land and ATVs. Now I just have to sell books like I'm Nora Roberts to make it all come true!

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  6. Gorgeous pics. Reminds me of when I watched A River Runs Through It again and again and not just to see Brad Pitt..that river and those mountains. Sigh.

    I felt that, the thing you're talking about, when I went to sleep in Puerto Rico to the sound of the waves. It's not SEEING the ocean for me but HEARING IT.

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    1. Those rivers are in Montana. See what I mean?

      I've been to Puerto Rico. It's lovely. I can't guarantee the tropical weather, but if you ever get to New Jersey I'm happy to take you to the Atlantic.

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    2. I think Diva should definitely come to New Jersey! Then after you show her the Atlantic, we can do Manhattan-y things here in the City.

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  7. I had similar feelings the first time I saw the red rock deserts in Utah. It was immediate. As much as I am opposed to you all moving away from the Garden State, I guess I could probably get a little house somewhere near by and spend some of the summer in Big Sky country. It looks beautiful.

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    1. Utah is next door! You could have your own little cottage! But you know we're never moving. Well, hopefully the children will leave us, but chances are we'll still be in Jersey.

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  8. Wow, all these comments took me in so many directions. Your pictures are stunning, and ALMOST make me indecisive about my love for water. ALMOST. It is a close call. But the ocean, specifically TROPICAL TURQUOISE ocean. I miss Puerto Rico :) The annual mecca to the Jersey shore gives me my fix for the year for now. See you soon xoxo

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  9. Oh shniff lovely! Being out on the coast, surrounded by mountains and ocean and mist, is incredibly peaceful. I love it here.

    I'm from the Prairies, though. So maybe it's my pre-Canada Anglo-Saxon blood that's coming out to play.

    Lovely post. :-)

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