Alberta Beauty

Hey it’s good to be back home again,
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long lost friend,
Yes, and hey it’s good to be back home again.
John Denver had a way of combining words and music that moves my heart. In this song he describes exactly how I feel about my native land. To look all around you and see to the horizon in every direction a carpet of emerald green stretching all the way to the distant mountains in the west and the prairie in the east, the farmlands checkering the land, the cattle grazing in the fields, the plentiful trees and flowing rivers, the blue, blue sky arching overhead like a giant bowl… Alberta is incredibly beautiful. Coming home from Pincher Creek we watched a storm approaching. Dark clouds piled up thousands of feet on the horizon. The sun tore through the curtain of deep purple and sent golden rays from the west. A rainbow appeared, its colors translucent and shimmering, a promise that even in storm there is good — water for the crops, to wash clean the earth and renew the land.
My nephew’s wedding was wonderful. Friends and family gathered to eat, dance, and congratulate the young couple, who were radiant with happiness. I was grateful to be able to see so many of my family, to connect with each one there in a meaningful way. All the work involved in the preparation, serving, and cleanup was worth it, for this nephew is dear to my heart. I spent the next day with my foster parents, who are so dear to me, who gave a lost and lonely girl a home long ago. We told each other stories and laughed and cried. Love wove its way through all our conversation.
There is in me a sense of completion. Like the Canada Goose I have come home to the north. I will fly back south, for my heart and home are also there, but every summer I must fly north, north to the magnificent beauty of Canada and the family that I hold dear.
Hey it’s good to be back home again.