Conditional Reality

Once in Wyoming I stood outside in a flat field under an intricate cloudscape of roiling gray and black. In that brief moment I instantly knew the meaning of the phrases "big sky country," and "wide open spaces" as I had never understood them before. If I had been alone I would have been terrified of that wildness. I tasted a hint of desperation and fear then, as though I might be plucked from the surface of the earth at any time, like a rabbit seized by a hawk. In later years that vulnerability has been a source of wonder.