Coming Home

[krikketgirl]

I was a little worried about coming home after our long trip. To understand, you have to know that I spent some time in Wyoming and Utah growing up, and I love the scenery of the west. You can keep your beaches and palm trees: I love the smell of sagebrush, the sound of the wind, the dusty ground, the scrubby trees, the rocks and cliffs, the flat land jutting in spots up to jagged mountains that seem to have just been dropped there. I love how close the stars look, the impossible blue of the sky that looks like a stage backdrop. I love the unexpected tumbling sound of rivers and the dry air.

A lot of that translated up to the Yukon and Alaska, too--though of course they're somewhat different from the west of my youth--so I was a little worried that I should be sad to be Back Home Again in Indiana.

Not so, I was glad to realize. The beauty of the west, though dear to my heart, is also somewhat demanding. It is a harsh-looking environment, beautiful but with an edge to it. As our plane circled over Indiana, though, I looked out and saw stretching farm fields, their square shapes gentle on the landscape. I saw land that rolled only gently, like a green bed that had been made a little carelessly. When I stepped into my little green front yard that I never water, and listened to the cicada song fill the saturated air, it felt comfortable. No more of the stillness at night, with no sign of anything near.

If the Yukon, Alaska, and the western U.S. are "get your horses and let's head off for adventure," then Indiana and the midwest states are "have a cup of coffee and sit here at the table and tell me all about everything." I am so fortunate to get to experience both.

Comments

[mattiescottage.livejournal.com]

Thank you SO MUCH for the affirmation! You've put it so well:

"The beauty of the west, though dear to my heart, is also somewhat demanding. It is a harsh-looking environment, beautiful but with an edge to it. . . . Indiana and the midwest states are 'have a cup of coffee and sit here at the table and tell me all about everything.'"

Mountains are beautiful, but constraining to sight and motion. The plains are free and easy. The horizon is open. You can see what is coming. Maybe that isn't so adventuresome, but it is more peaceful.

[krikketgirl.livejournal.com]

Just so. Of course, I am also one of the only people I know who finds the lush tropical colors and foliage of Hawaii to be threatening and sinister. : D

[bojojoti.livejournal.com]

I so enjoy visiting the Rockies. They take one's breath away with their majesty. However, after about a week in the mountains, my eyes feel frustrated that the view is blocked. As we drive home, and the mountains melt into pastures and farm land, I feel this sense of contentment that everything is now as it should be--open and free.

[mattiescottage.livejournal.com]

Amen. :-)