It's ridiculously late but I need to unwind before I go to sleep.Somehow it escaped my rational mind that we would drive 600 miles to spend 6 hours with family and then turn around and drive home.
Tonight as I hugged my parents and sisters and various children goodbye
it all seemed surreal.
"I'll be there in 5 minutes." I call to dearest one.
Five more minutes with my sister.
There is something about the prairies that calls to me and fills me with longing.
I really believe the landscape itself sears itself into ones' very being.
At one point today we stopped on a little side road that had wild roses and prairie sage. I took a deep breath and for some reason decided right then and there that when I go on a private retreat it needs to be on the prairies, surrounded by stubby trees and sparse grass. The wind needs to blow through my hair, too. A random thought out of the blue but one that settled within instantly.
Anyway it is way past bedtime and as luck will have it I will wake up in a few hours to begin the long trek home.
6 comments:
Clearly what we call home belongs to more than one location. May the winds blow sweetly in your mind bringing peace.
My dad grew up on a farm in Sask. and he felt the same as you about the prairies.
The big empty seems to fill one up.
When I was a kid, I thought the prairies were boring though a family friend pointed out its beautiful sunsets and sunrises. Years later, while driving through the Rockies that I'd always admired, I realized that I was beginning to feel claustrophobic and only really relaxed when we hit some wider open spaces. Never thought it would happen but I longed for the prairies. (though a couple more hills and valleys couldn't hurt.)
Sounds like you had a good visit.
Mich
Knowing the landscape of your heart is a true gift. Thank you for reminding of this. I experienced it here in the Pacific Northwest as my train car that delivered me from my homestate of Maryland rounded the first forested curved. I have known ever since that this is where my heart was leading me. I don't know much about praries...maybe some day.
I don't know as I've ever seen the prairies, an area of this country missed along the way; but you do remind me of being stationed just outside D.C. in the late 60s. My wife and I, at least once a month, would look at each other, wonder what they were doing down home, and drive all night Friday to spend Saturday her with the family, then the long stretch back home Sunday afternoon. That was back in the days before much of the journey possessed nothing but two-lane roads......
An extra five minutes with a sister is worth 600 miles.
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