Wide Open Spaces

Who doesn't know what I'm talking about

Who's never left home, who's never struck out
To find a dream and a life of their own
A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone

Many precede and many will follow
A young girl's dream no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out west
But what it holds for her, she hasn't guessed yet

She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes

She traveled this road as a child
Wide eyed and grinning, she never tired
But now she won't be coming back with the rest
If these are life's lessons, she'll take this test

She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes

Wide Open Spaces by The Dixie Chicks

 

I've been hearing this song in my head for the last few days & I listening to it now as I type for inspiration.  I put it on a mixed CD back in the 90s and would play it every time we headed  out on one of our road trips to Santa Fe.  What can I say?  I grew up watching the movie "Grease" and always wanted my own personal soundtrack.  And, while this song certainly sums up my feelings about following my dream to strike out on my own, it also resonates on a deeper level today as I deconstruct my home in search radical simplicity.  

I've spent most of my life decorating & rearranging my home and even made a career out of doing the same thing for other people.  I never had much money to work with but I always had creativity in spades, and finding new ways to use items I already owned was always a wonderful challenge.  My mind always seemed to be searching for new ways to personalize the spaces I inhabited and make the houses in which I've lived into homes.  My daydreams (and night dreams) were filled with detailed plans to remodel homes and redecorate interiors.  Letting go of this thinking is creating new and unexpected feelings.  I've had to remind myself several times that I'm not buying new stuff to replace the things I've sold or donated during this process and that reminder has been followed by a quiet sense of relief.  It feels like a breath fresh air and there now seems to be a wide open space in my head for new dreams & possibilities. Of course, it helps that I can still live vicariously through my clients' furniture arrangements and create new and interesting galleries on their walls with their favorite pieces of art and family photos.

As I was typing this, I was thinking about what photo to include with the post.  This picture came to mind immediately because it's one of the few items that are coming with me. I've been scanning old family photos for several years now and the original of this print is only about 1x2 inches.  Thanks to my trusty scanner, I was able to have it enlarged and printed onto 2x3 feet canvas last year.  It was taken in 1918 of my Grandmother on the plains of Iowa with her two oldest children (and the third on the way).  I've always been fascinated by the it's candid nature and even though she looks really tired it captures a real moment in her early life as a mother and is much more appealing to me than the stiffly formal portraits of the time.  It makes me wonder about the dreams she had for her own life.  So, I'm taking her with me to the Land of Enchantment and perhaps as I learn more about myself on this journey, I'll learn more about her as well.