Heart Throbs, Vol. 1 Issue 140 April 1972

“A WORLD APART”

Posting Images from My Camera Roll Until I Get Bored: Day 7

Dad’s old place in Valley Creek.

I first learned about ranch life on my grandpa’s place just outside Arlee. I hated it. To me, the Broken Circle was synonymous with fear, shame, and good old-fashioned Catholic Guilt. I knew there was something about me that didn’t fit, and it fostered this little seed of resentment and rage that blossomed into something very beautiful in recent years.

But Valley Creek was different. Not so far away from the old Broken Circle physically, but emotionally? Worlds apart. Past Agnes Vanderberg Campsite, tucked away in a little bend, it was where the horses ran free, and where I finally understood why my dad loved the land as much as he did. It was his first Indian Ranch, and he cared for that plot, all the old nags, and the broken-down tractors with all his heart.

Posting Random Photos From My Camera Roll Once A Day Until I Get Bored (Day 5)

Halloween, 2014. For the first time in my life, I have more than one friend.

We walked the streets of Missoula after dark, and for the first time I felt like they belonged to me.