"Wild Montana Skies"

Released in 1983, John Denver's album, "It's About Time' will forever hold a place in my soul. At the age of thirteen I was given the opportunity to explore the skies of Montana in Glacier Park. In some obscure area, at the top of a mountains rests a deep blue lake, High Park Lake. Me and the party that I accompanied explored that ice water and the rocky ridges around it for enough time to teach me something about myself; I need the "Wild Montana Skies."

Of course, as they all do, the excursion came to a close. We finally came down from those skies, we finally crossed paths with other life besides wild life, and we finally sat in small boxes with wheels and headed for "home." 

There, I went about doing all the things that most young boys do while at home: studying, playing, working, etc. Although it felt like home when I arrived home at the time, I realize now, only fourteen short years later that I never returned home the same. 

The home that my heart longed for was the one with no walls, no wheels, no worries, and no chairs. I went back to those mountains five years later with a good friend and loved it all the same, but haven't been back since.

Just last weekend my wife and I found ourselves at the top of a small mountain or enormous hill (depending upon where you are from) in other country. Like all things, that go up, we made our way down the steep slope of the beast. There always seems to be a sensation that comes with leaving high places. I find the feelings to be almost nostalgic.

As we made our way back home from our trip, the song "Wild Montana Skies" flowed through the speakers. That song, one might even call it a hymn (and would be right to do so I do believe), was the album "It's About Time." 

A week has gone by, and now I understand why Mr. Denver chose to name his album with such a name as "It's About Time." Although 14 years have gone by since the first time I peaked that mountain in Montana, I am now just discovering what peace, what joy, and what need I have to explore the wild Montana skies every day of my life. Indeed, "it's about time" that I go home to the Montana skies. Whether in person or in spirit, I will take my time to "[Give] a voice to the forest, [give] a voice to the dawn, [give] a voice to the wilderness and the land that [I] lived on."