This is the valley of my life
A place between the eternity of old age and the rocky crags of youth
Much like the place where I grew up
The place I still call home
I grew up knowing the difference between a Valencia and a Navel
I knew what a sunrise looked like
And the difference between the roar of a spray rig and the hum of a forklift
This valley is more than a place
It is comfort
It is hard work
It is nourishment
It is family
It is my heart
When I was a little girl, I believed in faeries.
My daddy would wake me up before the sun and bundle me into the front seat of his work truck.
As that hot sun rose, I could see their wing tips sparkle at the top of the milkweed that bordered the forest of orange trees.
Bold knights would hum in the blossoms,
Their yellow pantaloons bulging with sweet pollen
And I believed that an entire kingdom existed between those Central
Valley summers
and my life in our little farm house.
In this place, now
Here
I believe in magic
I hear it in the purr of the songs of the field workers who feed our bodies
I see it in the shadows of angelic clouds floating over the foothills of
the Sierra Nevadas
I feel it in the soft breeze that scatters yellow droplets of pollen
across the fertile soil
I believe that every moment in time has converged in this space
hollowing out a fruitful basin where we live in this charmed earth
I sit here on this porch swing and I look out over those dark green
citrus trees
And I think,
"Wow! There's so much more to come!"
I turn to look at those giant mountains
And I think,
"Wow! I've come so far!"
But I'm right here on this porch swing
Right here in between
Right here in this Central California heat where
the waves of warmth rise from the dirt
Right here where I belong
I don't know what the future holds,
But I know that whatever it is
I will be ready
I know what it means to work hard long past the setting sun
I know what it means to change with the seasons
I know what it means to wait for the fruit to ripen on the tree
My valley has taught me that there are miracles in every drop of rain
In every seed
In every moment
I live here
in this valley
A place where I grow
and breathe
and become
Here in these warm folds that smell of
orange blossoms and dust motes
Where the ragged peaks of the past glow
and dissipate in the sunrise
Where the waves of the expanse lap
at the edges of the sunset
I live here
This is my valley