Life on a Ranch

A few days ago, I put tennis shoes on and got ready to go for a walk. Buck was home and when he heard my plans, he offered to walk with me… through the calves. A “power walk” to check calves wasn’t the kind of exercise I was hoping for, so I declined and headed out on my typical route: a quick jaunt out our driveway, onto what our kids used to call “the hard road” and then off the pavement of highway 237 and onto the gravel. I’m a true creature of habit – I still know the distances of every one of my old running routes around my parents’ house in Idaho. I ran them hundreds of times growing up and, long before the invention of GPS and watches that track distance, we clocked the routes with an odometer in my mom’s car. Truth be told, I’ve actually done that same thing around our house, too, even though I do have a watch that will tell me how far I go and how many steps it takes me to get there. Anyway, I went for a walk. And as much as I was enjoying the beautiful fall colors and the crisp air, the true proof that fall is here was the strong wind, a sure and true reminder that the seasons have changed. When I’m out walking and the wind is blowing, I often hear the old Bob Dylan song in my head, “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ n the wind”. If that’s true, the answer is blowin’ by real quick around here, so you better figure out what that answer is before it blows all the way to Elgin! Speaking of Elgin, our girls’ volleyball team faced their girls in the first round of the Old Oregon League’s District Tournament over in Baker City on Friday. After playing four sets against Pilot Rock, Elgin immediately played Cove and by the end of the five-set battle, our girls came out ahead 15-12. At which point, Elgin had finished playing their ninth set in a row, giving it everything they had until the very last point. The win secured a spot for our Cove girls in the state playoffs this coming week. I was genuinely delighted to find out the Elgin girls had a high enough state ranking to earn an at-large spot in the playoffs as well. They absolutely deserved it. The initial match secured the state playoff game, but Saturday was the final District battle between the top four teams in the league: Imbler, Union, North Powder and Cove. As the day started, we all stood for the National Anthem and as it played, I looked around the gym. The four teams stood in their respective line ups while each of the top four sections of the gym was filled with fans, all wearing enough of their school colors to paint their section with school spirit. It isn’t hard for me to get emotional these days, but as the anthem played, I got a little choked up. I got choked up because the older I get, the more I realize it’s possible to feel a lot of different emotions all at once. To start, I felt really sad that Lucy couldn't be out there with the seniors she played with and against since fifth grade, knowing this was the last time I’d watch several of them play. The girls on the other teams aren’t just players- we’ve watched each of them play so much that I know their strengths and weaknesses. I know their body language- which ones stand still for the National Anthem and which ones bend their knees and tap a foot, anxious for the game. I know how they handle pressure, how they celebrate a victory, and which ones have quiet confidence when the going gets tough. Besides the other players, I also looked down to the floor at Katelyn, our #11, and reflected on her season. She started the season on JV and wasn’t even considered as a swing player for varsity. Our quiet middle-kid put her head down and went to work and, by mid-season, she had a starting spot on varsity. Watching her rise to the occasion this fall has been incredibly fun to see, but knowing she reached a goal that mattered to her was one of the reasons I got choked up during the Star-Spangled Banner. In addition to Katelyn, I also took a minute to look around at the parents and grandparents, all community members from around the county- teachers, nurses and radiology techs, contractors, firemen, dental hygienists, nurse practitioners, linemen, bankers, and lots of farmers and ranchers. Even as rivals for the day, I felt a lot of gratitude for each of them. Because as much as I’m familiar with the kids, we’re also familiar with, and know, a lot of the parents. We know the ones who yell, the ones who take pictures, and the ones who coach. We know the prideful ones and the humble ones. And for two days, we all took time to gather around our collective girls, one more time. We cheered for their hard work and the final push to the end of the season. Don’t get me wrong- the competition was fierce and for most of the weekend, the tension in that gym was intense. But as the Anthem came to a close and the flag ascended into the ceiling above the gym, in the quiet space before the crowd cheered and the games commenced, I was thankful. I’m so incredibly appreciative for this place we get to raise our kids. While I love the land here- the mountains and water, the abundant agriculture and the wide-open spaces, we’re really the richest when it comes to the people who live here. And I know it’s not just Union County that has this level of wealth; there are rural communities all over the country who function the same way. There are a lot of parents out there working to raise their families while building relationships, caring about each other, and raising the next generation of hearty, strong, hard-working kids. It’s not all perfect and the future is full of challenges- some of them more imminent than others. By the next column, our long-drawn-out election process will be over and we’ll be facing whatever reality comes out of that vote. I don’t have a whole lot of faith in that, but I do have faith that whatever the outcome, our communities will stick together and keep doing the next right thing. We’ll wake up and keep raising our families, we’ll teach our kids the value of hard work, and we’ll keep showing up for themat gyms for basketball games and wrestling tournaments this winter, at graduations and celebrations come spring, and for all the practices and homework sessions in between. We'll keep on keepin' on, right out here in beautiful, albeit windy, Union County. ~Chelsea