weary as water

Book #1: The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere

Book 1 is “The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere” by Debra Marquart. I put this book on my wishlist after hearing an interview with the author on NPR, and my friend Lisa was good enough to get it for me as a Christmas present. (Thanks, Lisa!).

I, too, Grew Up In The Middle of Nowhere (southeastern Montana – Miles City even gets a shoutout in this book), and although I didn’t have a genuine farm girl experience her stories are very familiar to me. While I grew up a few hours away from where my dad grew up, with aunts and uncles who lived on a real ranch, my experience with ranching was confined to keeping a small herd of sheep one summer, and baling a few acres of alfalfa hay twice (or, if we were lucky, three times) a summer. Some of my most memorable moments came during those times, though. Being knocked down by my VeryFavoriteSheep one morning when I was late with the feed. Finding out that the roast we had just eaten was my VeryFavoriteSheep. Walking behind the ancient hay baler, making sure the square bales were tied properly with twine (and yelping if they weren’t). The first and only time I cursed at my dad (and then hiding down by the river for hours, trying to decide if it was safe to go home). The ground cracking during the drought of 88, and the red sky that came with the smoke from the Yellowstone fires. Wishing that we could have a normal vacation to Hawaii or Florida instead of always baling hay. Many hours spent reading in my basement room, dreaming of getting Out, going Somewhere, doing Things.

This book is full of stories very similar to those I remember in my childhood – and those I swear someone who grew up in my hometown could tell. This book made me laugh out loud – and also get a little teary eyed. This isn’t a book about growing up and leaving the middle of nowhere – it’s about coming back to the place you grew up to find that piece of your soul that aches for home.

264 pages
4/5