Journey of the Magpie: Back in the (semi) Flatlands (Part 1)

I returned from Montana on Wednesday evening. I came back to Callie, family, a growing garden, and the promise of summer adventures. Sounds good, right? I have to admit, this leavetaking from Montana was one of the hardest so far. When I left to go to grad school, I had a mission and a deadline, and the hope that I'd be able to come back. This time, in leaving, I don't know where the future takes me, or if I'll be able to do more than come back here and there for visits. That thought, while flying away from the mountains, had me crying quietly on the plane, and sporadically since I've been back at my brother's.

I don't know what it is about Montana. Part of it is the mountains, part of it is the people, part of it is values that mesh with my own, and part of it just is, and I don't know how to explain it. Whatever the pull, it keeps my friends there struggling to eek out a living. It's both beautiful and hard, but something about it makes you willingly take your vow of poverty, trade the opportunity you could have elsewhere for its uncertainty and charm. I miss it more than I ever thought I would, and given the choice between financial security elsewhere and struggle in Montana, I would choose Montana. It may be crazy, but there you are.

So, here are pictures of what pulls at my heart - friends, mountains, the outdoors, beauty, humor.... one of the places on this earth where I feel I fit in.