I was walking around in the Pine Bush preserve earlier this evening. This area is always so beautiful, particularly in the evening. Yet, what always captures my mind more then just the preserve and the lush green area surrounded by city, is the mountains in the distance. They are the Heldebergs.

I have spent my whole life in the Heldebergs, and a lot of time rambling around these mountains. I probably know every road out there, and nearly every farm that dots along them. I love to explore these wild and free areas. This mountainous terrain is truly the anti-thesis of the big city.

And so I look at these mountains. They look different in the distance. I can identify every point on them, and I know what they look like looking out. Yet, somehow the distance gives them a kind of feeling, a sense of liberation and free land while I'm still stuck in the city for a couple more hours.

I realize that these are just mountains, and they are far from perfect. Just because you get away from the city, the world does not change. There may be more freedoms in the country, and more natural beauty, but our laws and our reason does not stop there. But at least for now my imagination stops a little bit farther in the distance.