“Just the facts, Ma’am ….” Well … I am a widow … weird! (Well, maybe a weird widow? – Don’t answer that one! ☺) I live on 80 acres in the sagebrush steppes of Eastern Oregon. My immediate family has either departed or scattered. My 2 daughters live independent and busy lives at opposite diagonal reaches in the state of Oregon. My neighbors are all landed people, either retired or busy making a living on the land. … and, obviously, ALL of us are even more separated from each other by the “social distancing” this pandemic has imposed upon the whole planet.
So, the land …. I ask myself why do I choose to stay here as I cope with the physical decline that aging brings and without the support, humor, and abilities of my lifelong partner? Sometimes, I miss the frequent doses of social interaction that living in town can present. My weekly trips to Baker City before Covid were stimulating fixes of interesting and nice people and, sometimes, good jokes. Though exhausted by evening, I felt happy and so good to be home. Now I feel wiped out and so good to be home! At times, I get fleeting thoughts that I could be somewhere else, doing something else. I can imagine so many alluring detours and doors that are imminently possible! But, yet, for the present, I am content to stay.
Why? 
Pam Houston, author of Deep Creek, addresses this question so beautifully. She quotes John LaFont from The Homesteaders of the Upper Rio Grande, first edition 1971:
“… land is fascinating and more or less magnetic and always had a value and probably always will. It is a feeling of stability and security to own a piece of land. You always feel like you have a home, no matter how humble.”
Yes, … and I am so grateful ….
