If I were a cowgirl I’d wake up each day say hello to the sunrise and be on my way. I’d get on my horse, feel the wind in my hair, hear a train in the distance… going somewhere… On that far-off train (leaving Union, I bet) there’d be someone like me (someone I’d never met). She’d be going to work in a building of steel, thinking hard about tech stuff or the next business deal. I’d catch the girl’s profile, just a flash on the rails. She’d look up, our eyes’d meet, and I’d swear her face pales. Her eyes are familiar. I’ve seen them before. There’s a longing within them I see in the mirror. As the sight and the sounds of the train fade away, I come out of my reverie, and back to today. As you all might have guessed, I’m the girl on the train. Concrete and city streets are my natural terrain. I work in Salt City (90 minutes each way) doing cyber-security on Linux all day. But when a small farm is taken through eminent domain, I see the injustice. I feel their pain. So I buy local produce, and I wear cowboy boots! To me, it’s like watering America’s roots. My parents escaped ruthless tyranny to kiss this ground – this land of the free. I believe in the eagle, and the rattlesnake’s bite. My freedom is something for which I do fight. I vote in elections, Stars’n’Stripes grace my lawn, and I thank God this country is where I call home. Preserving our heritage is a trust and an art. I salute all you cowboys and cowgirls… I’m a cowgirl at heart.

NOTE: Union Station in Ogden, UT was formerly the junction of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads.