Wild, Wonderful Wyoming - Remembering Our Visits in 2016
If you haven't been....you have to go!
This past summer, we had the glorious fortune of spending some time with friends on their ranch in Wyoming. Both visits shifted something in me.
There is something powerful about being out on the open plains. They are dry, dusty, solitary, desolate, yet full of life, potential and teaming with history that you can feel in the core of your being. From a ridge overlooking vast nothingness, you begin to feel a connection with all that was, is and will be. You feel lonesome and empty, but peaceful and whole. The expanse is everything and nothing and you are innately connected to mother earth.
The morning sun caresses and coaxes to life every ridge, valley, pine needle and rock. The sun's rays evaporate any chill and softly prod the bustle of daily activity - from the cattle that begin to graze to the smallest of insects who's work is never done. As the day progresses, the sun rises in the endless blue sky and begins to blaze in all its glory over the unforgiving terrain. That same terrain, while considered unforgiving more times than not, will with constant grace prove itself extraordinary in facing all weather conditions, in all seasons, remaining steadfast, changing as needed to accommodate its inhabitants and the elements. The sun of this great land will always shadow yesterday, brighten today and show the way to tomorrow.
The winds blows there. More accurately, the wind whips and howls. Yet, there is a communion with the wind that happens. Without subtlety, it assaults you, surrounds you, and forces its way into every nook and crack and powers to the core of your soul. It rustles up what might be stagnant and blasts it right out. There is no hiding from it. You are stripped down and exposed for what you are and that is very liberating.
As the sun fades and drops below the horizon, the air begins to still and you can almost feel the blanket of nightfall covering the space. There is a reprieve from the energy of the day, a moment, if but fleeting, that you can feel everything take a breath.
However, the night is about anything but sleep. The expansive night sky explodes into a light show that goes beyond dazzling. The stars explode into the space that seems to be almost touchable if not completely surrounding you. The sky becomes all-inclusive. It surrounds and embraces everything - not with darkness, but with sizzle. You suddenly understand, while blanketed by the night, that you are but a mere spec, inconsequential in the universe that dwarfs your mere existence. And yet, as minuscule as you now understand yourself to be, you feel the life force of every thing around you, above you and below you and you know that you are infinitely connected and an important part of it all. You feel, of maybe just sense the beat of a drum, or a heart, - a rhythm that you instinctually fall in line with. It is not necessarily identifiable or even describable, but it beckons to you and you can't help but to allow your soul to answer. Whether you heed the nocturnal invitation by spending the night hours awake and mesmerized, or if you relent, let go and recharge in the embrace of darkness, you will greet the dawn with an altered consciousness that will stay with you.
All parts of the experience continue on with me, It shines ever so slightly in the shadowed recesses of my mind. It softly flutters with the beat of my heart. It murmurs in my memories and it draws me back again and again.....WILD, WONDERFUL WYOMING!
This past summer, we had the glorious fortune of spending some time with friends on their ranch in Wyoming. Both visits shifted something in me.
There is something powerful about being out on the open plains. They are dry, dusty, solitary, desolate, yet full of life, potential and teaming with history that you can feel in the core of your being. From a ridge overlooking vast nothingness, you begin to feel a connection with all that was, is and will be. You feel lonesome and empty, but peaceful and whole. The expanse is everything and nothing and you are innately connected to mother earth.
The morning sun caresses and coaxes to life every ridge, valley, pine needle and rock. The sun's rays evaporate any chill and softly prod the bustle of daily activity - from the cattle that begin to graze to the smallest of insects who's work is never done. As the day progresses, the sun rises in the endless blue sky and begins to blaze in all its glory over the unforgiving terrain. That same terrain, while considered unforgiving more times than not, will with constant grace prove itself extraordinary in facing all weather conditions, in all seasons, remaining steadfast, changing as needed to accommodate its inhabitants and the elements. The sun of this great land will always shadow yesterday, brighten today and show the way to tomorrow.
The winds blows there. More accurately, the wind whips and howls. Yet, there is a communion with the wind that happens. Without subtlety, it assaults you, surrounds you, and forces its way into every nook and crack and powers to the core of your soul. It rustles up what might be stagnant and blasts it right out. There is no hiding from it. You are stripped down and exposed for what you are and that is very liberating.
As the sun fades and drops below the horizon, the air begins to still and you can almost feel the blanket of nightfall covering the space. There is a reprieve from the energy of the day, a moment, if but fleeting, that you can feel everything take a breath.
However, the night is about anything but sleep. The expansive night sky explodes into a light show that goes beyond dazzling. The stars explode into the space that seems to be almost touchable if not completely surrounding you. The sky becomes all-inclusive. It surrounds and embraces everything - not with darkness, but with sizzle. You suddenly understand, while blanketed by the night, that you are but a mere spec, inconsequential in the universe that dwarfs your mere existence. And yet, as minuscule as you now understand yourself to be, you feel the life force of every thing around you, above you and below you and you know that you are infinitely connected and an important part of it all. You feel, of maybe just sense the beat of a drum, or a heart, - a rhythm that you instinctually fall in line with. It is not necessarily identifiable or even describable, but it beckons to you and you can't help but to allow your soul to answer. Whether you heed the nocturnal invitation by spending the night hours awake and mesmerized, or if you relent, let go and recharge in the embrace of darkness, you will greet the dawn with an altered consciousness that will stay with you.
All parts of the experience continue on with me, It shines ever so slightly in the shadowed recesses of my mind. It softly flutters with the beat of my heart. It murmurs in my memories and it draws me back again and again.....WILD, WONDERFUL WYOMING!
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