Big Skies

When we first moved back to Indiana almost 12 years ago, I remember standing at the window of my new bedroom and feeling completely overwhelmed by the immensity of the sky outside. In Georgia, you can never see very far -- your view is blocked by mountains and pine trees, and kudzu crawling over everything in sight. I was not happy to be in Indiana -- I missed my friends and my home, and I didn't want to go to college in a few months and leave behind the only familiar people I had around me now. But standing at that window and seeing that huge, blue sky and all that land stretching out in front of me, I felt the tiny stirrings of interest in a new landscape, and a new life.

I felt the same thing today when I got home and stood on our back deck. The sky was so blue and so big, and with all that spring newness popping up around me, I felt a little new, too. While I still miss mountains (I can't help but get a bit giddy whenever we head south and the landscape starts to roll and rise), I can appreciate the beauty in wide, flat, sprawling spaces -- and more importantly, the change of scenery.