Do you ever hear a song and instantly think of a special memory or a moment in time?
The other day we were in town and I heard a song being played in the background. I instantly thought back to some special times. “Wide Open Spaces” hit on a few of those times.
The year was 1999, I was a freshman in college. Wooster was working his first year on a remote UGA farm. We knew of each other, but nothing was in the works for a long term relationship.
Back then, I was getting hit with the reality of being the ‘bumpkin in Chacos in amongst the girls from the suburbs of Atlanta. I was also realizing the blessing it was to be considered the bumpkin.
( I, however, was not as bumpkin as some girls that would dip at the smoke shack….that’s a whole ‘nother story for another…maybe never…time.)
During that time, the Dixie Chicks were big and they had just released a new album. One song, “Wide Open Spaces“, really connected with me.
(**All the above pictures taken by Wooster from his phone. We don’t have smart phones. They are at least three years old. Ancient.**)
(a road…blacktop…and 160 acres of harvested wheat. Picture taken by Wooster from the top of a grain bin)
The writer of the song, Susan Gibson, who was not a member of the band, wrote the song after her first visit back home as a freshman at the University of Montana in 1993. Her home was in Amarillo, Texas. The family would take trips to Montana at different times in her life.
Wooster took us to Amarillo back in the fall of 2011. There is almost NOTHING there in relation to trees, shrubs, little plants. NOTHING. I don’t know if it could really get any more wide open than Amarillo.
(boots in the red Texas dirt…with the cactus)
(Amarillo…Cadillac Ranch)
But…I’ve been to Montana. Twice. Wooster has been three times. We love it.
(Glacier Meadow Lodge, Blackfeet Reservation, Northwest Montana)
I completely identify with Ms. Gibson’s lyrics since seeing both Montana and Amarillo. The picture of both of us in front of the mountain range is truly one of my favorite pictures of us together. It is also one of my most favorite spots in the world.
Who woulda thunk that, 14 years later the bumpkin would be living in the Great Plains of the USA? (with my same Chacos. They are great shoes.)
Maybe we secretly did know.
Wide Open Spaces…..beautiful.
(the original post had the lyrics of the song, but because of copyright laws, we did not post)
