Oh my goodness. Did I really just title a blog post after a Dixie Chicks song? I'm not sure how I feel about that. That has been rattling around in my head all day as a possible theme for the post. But just now when I wrote it down, I realized what I had done. Oh, well. I'm sure you get the idea. To say that I spend most of my time in uncrowded places is an understatement. If you put everyone that lives in the area that you can see from the top of Black Mountain, you could fit them all in one of those Boeing 787's with enough room left over that they could all bring their horses. Even in the wintertime, I may have a grocery store just down the street, but I still spend most of my time wandering around in the woods alone. The solitude is something that I have always found comforting, but it can be easy to take for granted and forget how special it really is. I was reminded by this recently when I worked at a World Cup skiing event at the resort where I work. [caption id="attachment_3214" align="alignnone" width="612"] mountains of mc coy, colorado[/caption] It is a great event every year, and this year was no exception. There were competitors from all over the world, loud music over the PA system, lights on the course bright enough to distract passing planes all a great show for the thousands of spectators that showed up. All told, it made for a real exciting night. But I'm not gonna lie, it was a little stressful. I enjoyed it, but was pretty happy when my work day was done, the music was turned down, the lights went off and I could see the stars again. [caption id="attachment_3217" align="alignnone" width="640"] peaceful sunset at black mountain ranch[/caption] Like I said, it can be real easy to not be mindful of real solitude, peace and quiet. If quiet is the absence of noise, and solitude is the absence of other people, then how are we supposed to be mindful of something that we will only notice by the absence of other things? Practice, I suppose. I'm gonna go wander around the woods now.