As the sun beats down on me through the window, I look out at the waves crashing against the shoreline. Today, it is both sunny and windy. It’s a day that is so windy we have gusts over 50 miles per hour. Out here in the prairie, this isn’t irregular. It just means that we plan our outdoor activities according to the weather. So this morning was spent working outdoors, and this afternoon is spent working indoors.
Life on the prairie. That’s what today’s blog post is about!
Living on the prairie has been very rewarding in many ways. I grew up in the central Minnesota region. We lived in the country, around water, woods, and rolling hills. When our family moved out west, to the border of Minnesota and South Dakota, it wasn’t a big change. Do you want to know what the biggest change was? Well, here it is: Not being able to go to the grocery store after 5pm on a Sunday! Seriously. Years ago, before our family started coming out every weekend to this area of state border lands, we had drove only 15 mins from our home in central Minnesota to the nearest town to get necessary groceries for the week. Then, once we did make weekend trips to state border lands where we live now, permanently, we rolled into town and not a vehicle was in sight… and the grocery store was locked up. NICE! (That was sarcastic.) Let me say that this never happened again, missing closing hours to pick up groceries for the week. We learned our lesson.
One of the questions I get from people, and I also ask others that move out here from “elsewhere” is, “What was the hardest thing to get used to?”
Nine times out of ten, this same story is also their response! Hahaha!
But truly, life on the prairie is truly beautiful. There is nothing better than hearing the birds sing, the waves crashing onto the shoreline (when on or by the lake), the spring buds bursting, the summer sunsets, the fall colors, and of course, the winter blizzards!
Prairie life is a unique experience. An experience that I truly love. I grew up a country girl and I still love the country. Most people that I know that also live here in the prairie are the same way. We love nature and all it encompasses. The winters aren’t always most people’s favorite time of year, but trust me when I say, we work three LONG seasons and that winter season is the prairie’s resident’s time to sit back and relax a bit. That’s when we catch up on all our indoor projects and much needed rest.
Life on the prairie is nothing short of amazing. Some of the most amazing people I’ve met live here. Maybe it’s their stories that captivate me. Or, maybe its their Western Minnesota drawl. Or, the oxygenating air. It’s probably all of these things together, plus more, that really have made a truly amazing impact in my life.
The prairie. It is here that I’ve spent the majority of my life. It is where I learned to shoot a gun. It’s where I learned to interact and communicate with people much better. It’s where I learned the beauty of the gift of “story”. It’s where my family and I made a new home. It is where I came to a place of peace in my life with my Papa God. It is where I opened up my business. It is where I felt at peace when I battled for my life with Pancreatic Cancer. And, it is a place that I continue to make life impacting memories.
Life on the prairie is an adventure, one that I never know where it is going to take me. Some adventures end up pretty epic… and others end up with me thinking, “Well that didn’t go so well.” Some adventures involve other people, and others I fly solo on. Every adventure is different.
As I get older, I look at the prairie and am mesmerized by its brilliance. With each season the prairie changes, the ecosystems doing their own thing, and we as people do too. Each day as I wake up I realize that today’s adventure has just begun. I get to make choices to enrich the prairie itself, it’s creatures, and it’s landscape. As I take in the beauty of the prairie’s landscape around me, I begin to see and understand more of what this beautiful prairie gives to us that I used to take for granted.
One of my favorite gifts that the prairie gives is actually here, where I live, on Big Stone Lake. It is on the border of Minnesota and South Dakota. Border water. The lake is literally what separates the two states. But it isn’t just that. Exactly halfway up the 30 miles lake, at mile 15, the lake divides its water’s flowing direction, with the water flowing north and flowing south. The water that flows north goes up to the Red River. The water that flows south goes into the Minnesota river and eventually ends up at the Gulf of Mexico. Pretty cool, huh? I think so!
Life on the prairie is very unique. It has a lot to offer to humans and all things non-human. It has offered me more gifts, life lessons, experiences, and provided more memories than I could have ever imagined. Prairie life is pretty amazing.
The sun is now setting. The sky is lighting up with brilliant colors. This too is one of my favorite things about the prairie, it’s sunsets. If there’s one thing that I absolutely love, it’s a magnificent sunset. They never get old. They are always different. And, they always light up the sky.
To you the reader, may you enjoy wherever you are at in life. May you enjoy the environment you are in, the smells, the sounds, and the feel. May you create wonderful memories and have ample amounts of laughter. I hope that wherever you are at, you enjoy it and see the beauty in your place. Be blessed and be well and if possible, go out and enjoy some of what the prairie has to offer, and a great sunset!
Your Life, Your Choice 