Are We Not All Pioneers?

It's Pioneer Day. Not here, in Texas, exactly. It's more of a Utah celebration. One I grew up with. It's the day the pioneers arrived in the valley to lay down and settle in. I'm sure Texas had it's own pioneers, although I have no idea when they arrived on the scene. But if you think about it, I'm sure they too pulled up their wagons and surveyed a land yet to be touched and grounded.

When I think about pioneers, I'm left with thoughts about hard work and determination mixed with a lot of trial and error. I come from pioneer stock. It's in my blood. Somewhere. The traces must be faint, because there's no way I would survive the dusty trial. No way. It would be like a Girl's Camp that lasts forever. My mind can't even go there.

But I do consider myself a survivor. The curves and bends in my path haven't been easy or chosen, but I've traveled through them nonetheless. And isn't that what the pioneers did? They pushed through, the best they knew how, and they came out on the other side different people than when they began. In that slant of light and when you look at it from that angle, we are all pioneers.

There have been times in my life when the road has felt too rugged and long. Don't you feel the same? There have been times where I knew that the handcart I pulled was just too heavy. And there are many more times where I've felt like the Willie Martin Company who started off on their trail too late, only to fight an uphill battle.

No matter the trial or the test, we are all just pushing through. The best we know how. And I have to believe that on the other side, I'll be grateful for the person I've become. And I'll look out over my valley and with relief exclaim, "This is the place."