It’s easy to write about coming to the West.
Legendary figures, such as Jack Kerouac, Ed Abbey and even John
Denver, still inspire young people to follow them to the land of
Rocky Mountain highs and red rock deserts in search of
enlightenment. What’s harder to do, however, is to write
about leaving the West.
In his collection of essays,
A View from the Inland Northwest, Stephen Lyons,
a frequent contributor to High Country News,
does both of these things. He remembers coming West from his home
state of Illinois and tells a story familiar to those who have
emigrated here from damper and denser climes. He introduces many of
the unusual friends he’s made over the years, including a
dryland farmer’s wife-turned-artist and a chaplain in rural
Washington whose job it is to inform people that their loved ones
have died, usually due to car accidents or some other tragedy.
Most striking, however, are the essays that Lyons wrote
as he and his wife prepared to move back to Illinois “to repay the
unspoken debts we as children owe.” He writes of the expectations
he brought with him to the West at age 17: to live in an old adobe
town, to see a cougar. And he writes of the realities at age 44:
“So many things have changed in the last quarter century. And what
precisely did I expect would happen? That I wouldn’t get old?
That my daughter wouldn’t grow up and leave home quicker than
wet soap out of your hand? That I could keep hiding from my
relatives forever?”
Some of the essays are almost
painfully bittersweet, such as those about our changing notions of
“home” — there’s the home we seek when we’re
young, idealistic and adventurous, and there’s the one where
responsibilities lie as we age — but each piece in this
collection rings honest and true.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Just where is that home on the range?.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
