Focusing on Setting

  Here I am just outside of Denver looking out over the Rocky Mountains. The ragged edges of that great range continue on for miles within the scope of my naked eye and I imagine the miles more that lie hidden behind their neighbors. To the south, the snow-covered slopes of Pikes Peak glow, the raw sunlight of a higher altitude reflected intensely as it shines uninhibited by soil or clouds. I have the prospect of cross-country travel on my mind and the morning flavour of toothpaste and coffee still in my mouth. My hands grip the steering wheel as the tires read the road like a page of Braille beneath my fingertips. The music coming from my speakers is unfamiliar to me, a new artist I'm discovering, and it plays a perfect soundtrack to my situation. The lyrics are aching and the echoey vocals exaggerate the confines of my vehicle making it seem larger than it actually is. The mountains behind me seem to contradict perception as well; here in my reality, the ground is pregnant with the growth of springtime, but thousands of feet above, a parallel universe exists where ice and snow glaze the landscape with porcelain smoothness. Ahead of me where the leveled plains of the Midwest seem to stretch on to the rim of the world, I can see that the snowy white caps are still there but they have evaporated and sit perched on invisible ranges of empty atmosphere. 
    Soaking in the visions passing outside of my car windows, I inwardly acknowledge that I am among the few fortunate enough to live among such beauty. In spite of having lived there for almost a year, Colorado has never seemed like a home to me. However, as I turn my progress east, I look at the receding mountains with a little bit of longing and know that I've left a small piece of my heart here.