Dirt roads and wide open spaces

While I will be the first to identify myself as a city girl, the older I get the more connection I feel to the country. Growing up, I spent a fair amount of time "up north." My grandparents had a lake house. My dad was huge on camping and fishing, and we took road trips to the South Dakota and Tennessee. We went hiking, rode horses, and canoed.

Once those pesky teenage years set in, I wanted less and less to do with these activities. I would rather be hanging out with my friends, chasing boys, playing basketball, loitering at the mall. Fast forward a few years later. My disillusionment with "up north" continued. Honestly, I haven't been camping in years. I don’t own a tent.

What's weird about it is that when I reflect on times in which I felt the most myself, and the most connected to the world, and the most at peace, I was far from the beaten path. I have memories, or pieces of memories, from being a little girl and sitting around the campfire, looking up at the stars and feeling…satisfied.

I remember the road trip a friend and I took to San Francisco. I remember sitting in the redwoods, reading a book and feeling…calm. I remember driving out to see a friend in Rhinelander and stopping into a random coffee shop on the side of the road and feeling…home. Even Thursday, while driving through Horicon for work, I took my lunch break and spent it sitting in a windmill field, looking up at the sky and feeling…connected.

It's amazing what a little nature, a little fresh air, can do for a person! And why, even though I have such a strong reaction to small town America, do I not make a point to enjoy it more often? Why don't I pull over every time I pass through Horicon?

Maybe deep down I know there's a chance I just might skip off into the field never to be seen again. Or maybe I'm called down the dirt road only when I need it, maybe it recharges me in some way. Maybe every city girl has a small town girl inside of her, maybe everybody’s path in life leads them at times down a dirt road.