A Final Bid Farewell to the Bonnie City

Dear Glasgow,

Glasgow, Montana. It's in the middle of nowhere. It isn't some super pretty mountainous area with tons of trees. We live in the less known, less desirable part of Montana.

In the summer, it is hot and the lake is at 25 degrees. The wind in the fall will destroy a trampoline in your own backyard. Winter is bitter and cold and the spring isn't much different. It is extreme and not all often very comfortable; but I don't think that is why we love Glasgow. Those are just the little cons in a much bigger diagram.

The land, though not coastal or forestry like where I am from, has its own ocean. Tall brown grass blowing in the never ending winds is my wave. The mint green sage is the ocean coral. If you just sit and listen, you will lose yourself in its humble terrain. It isn't flat like most think. Any hunter or rancher will agree, it is all rolly hills, plateaus, buttes, and coulees. The life and ecosystems are all different but the same all at once.

In Glasgow, there are very few stores; no Walmart or big chain stores. We have more banks here then I feel we really need. In between, the town is a railroad that was built in the late 1880s.

The people here care about the children more than anything. "They are our future" is very true around a place where it is all ranching kids. I am actually good friends with Sam Knierim. His family has a huge ranch out here and these kids work harder than any others. We all know how to hunt, fish, camp, and 4-wheel like we were born doing it. The children here are going to the range and shooting .22s at the age of three, and will someday be the men in our military. If anything, we could live through the apocalypse longer than any other place in the world.

You know everybody and everybody knows you. Miranda Lambert got it pretty right when she sang "Everybody is famous in a small town." I had left for a year and came back. If you leave an impact, they all remember our name (good or bad). Ya we all have our friend groups but when push comes to shove, we unite and stand strong together. We put our differences away and look at one another as family. Don't get me wrong there are things here that aren't good, just like every other place.

I have made Glasgow sound like a fairytale land or something out of a book, but it kind of is. It's our haven, our home. You will find nothing like it, almost completely unchanged over 200 years. It's not magical, we don't have some crazy superpower, or magic here; it's more like we have people who are people. That sounds weird but it makes some sense, right?

I have to leave Glasgow, Montana, but even though I will never forget the freedom I found here. I feel like I have broken the chains of reality. The war between the world and peace and have found HOME. I may be leaving Glasgow but I will always carry a piece with me.

Goodbye my freedom and my safe haven. Goodbye my wide open spaces.

Goodbye my big sky and my treasure state.

Goodbye cold winters and hot summers.

Goodbye my friends and teachers.

Goodbye Glasgow, you are forever a part of me!

Sincerely,

Dionne Bradley

Glasgow, Mont.