Growing up, the desert was my entire world. A change of scenery, some new courage, and a fellow desert child helped me to expand that world.
I’m a desert child. Born under a blistering late afternoon sun in July, raised on a lake that turns to melted gold under pink skies. My childhood was spent wandering barefoot through sagebrush, always keeping a watchful eye for rattlesnakes. I always felt most comfortable wandering in the outdoors, but was just as likely to be found curled up on the floor with a book.
Growing up, there was a well-loved book on my family’s bookshelf: Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls. It tells of a strong-willed woman who grew up in the desert and eventually found her passion in teaching. It taught me my most important life lesson: “The place where you live - your home - is one of the most important things in a body's life.”
Deserts
Walls composes the story of her grandmother, Lily Smith, in the first person. She incorporates her strong-willed personality and rough lifestyle to paint a picture of desert life. Lily Smith lives on a ranch, raising babies and taming wild horses. As I child, I was thrilled to realize she was a desert child, just like me. I admired her spirit, drive, and stubborn will to survive in some of the toughest times in America. Most of all, I admired her optimism, which is exemplified as she reflects, “The sun didn’t really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.”
I thought back to my own childhood when I came upon these words. In the desert, the heat and sun are a daily part of life. Sometimes it’s a mild warmth, most of the time it’s a killer, pulsing heat. As kids, we made the best of that sun, spending our summers jumping off red cliffs into deep blue water from sun up to sun down. I resonated with Lily’s casual tone of speech that was so familiar to my southwestern home. She would have fit right into our small town with her occasionally funny way of speaking.
Mountains
I found kinship with Lily Smith when she determined she needed to leave the desert to pursue an education. Upon her departure of the home she’d always known, she remarks, “People are like animals. Some are happiest penned in, some need to roam free. You go to recognize what's in her nature and accept it.” I decided I was one of the roam free types. After 18 blissful summers, I traded my red dirt for green mountains and the best snow on earth.
The adjustment to college wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I bought my first coat, learned to wear shoes outside, and began to understand that freezing was the norm. Despite this, the decrease in temperature brought an increase in growth and learning. My worldview began to expand beyond my little desert home. I discovered new interests, new friends, and new adventures. I began to discover a new side of myself, one that loved driving the canyon in the rain and staying in to watch movies with my friends. I still avoided the cold at all costs, but began to appreciate the beauty of snowflakes falling to the earth.
Lily’s analogy that we are all like animals caused me to stop and think about my own nature and the things that make each individual who they are. My parents are the type who need to roam free. They instilled that love of change and movement in me, which made me able to adapt to my new surroundings.
A New World
Near the end of the book, Lily Smith returns to her desert home. She has become well-educated, clearly evident by the way her voice style changes from the beginning to the end of the book. Once known for her incorrect grammar and phrases, she emerges as a well-spoken teacher who has changed the lives of many rural children. When she first gazes upon her small farm, she remarks, “People say that when you return to the place where you grew up, it always seems smaller than you remember. ...but I don't know if it was because I had built it up in my memories or I had gotten bigger. Maybe both.”
When I was growing up, my desert home felt endless. It was everything I knew. After returning home from college every summer, my once enormous town seemed to get a little smaller. I wondered if the town itself had changed, or if a change had occurred within myself. Just like Lily, I began to realize my world expanding. Instead of being everything I knew, the desert had become my small sanctuary. No matter how much of the world I may see or how many new things I learn, I know that deep down, I will always be a desert child.
I think the most powerful stories are the ones that can make you see how you and the main character are alike. Like your example, you really do see your own world in a new perspective when you connect with a story.
ReplyDeleteI love the parallels of Lily' life to your own! I love the desert too, and will never be used to the cold here. But the perspective you gained from her book is wonderful :) I love that you continued on with the analogy of a small town with your small sanctuary-- beautiful word choice!
ReplyDeleteIn your essay, you did a really great job of tying in the quotes from Half Broke Horses into your own life and experiences. Also I really loved the imagery, you did a great of showing and not just telling about your childhood. The picture you choose works so well with the essay!
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