the best seat in the house
That is my chair, the one on the left. My chair at my table in my house. How selfish that may sound. I don’t mean to be. I only mean to share with you my favorite place on the ranch. In that case, it is simple, even humble, I hope. It is a good place. I can think of none better.
The ranch from the eyes of a fourth grader. It is compared to a trip to Disney Land. “So, what is your favorite thing to do on the ranch?” she asks me. I tell her I love it all; there is no one favorite, but the combination of all that makes it work for me. She tells me her favorite is riding horses, baking, walking around petting the other horses. That is good.
“So, where is your favorite place on the ranch?” she then asks. I find this question remarkably deep, and I have to think about it. It does not take long. I tell her it is right where I am sitting as we speak. My chair at our kitchen table. Because from here, I explain, I am next to my boys, with my dog by my side, and perhaps a cat on a lap, usually with a simple meal I have prepared before us, always extra and a chair close by for one more to join us. Here I am surrounded by walls we have built with love and hopes and dreams. Outside the big windows, I see the fruits of our labor with buildings, fencings, pastures, gardens, chicken coop, cows, and my many horses all around… And beyond that still, I see our mountains, always looming over us wild, durable and intense, like the higher power I suppose them to be. Indifferent to my presence perhaps, yet untainted and mighty in their existence alone, silently teaching me the most important lessons merely by being there.
I have never been to Disney Land, but I imagine. Sights, sounds, stimulations, rides… fun, fun, fun! I need not ever go there. I have our ranch, our animals, my boys, these mountains. I may be simple, but there is little else I long for.