Distinctly Montana Magazine Wishes You All A Happy Thanksgiving

We might be a little biased, but it occurs to us that we as Montanans have more to be thankful for than anyone, even in this troubled year. Firstly, and most importantly, we have our families, friends and each other. If nothing else, these last two years have reiterated for us what really matters in our lives. 

But you could say that for any old state. Even, shudder, North Dakota. Believe it or not, even in that windy wasteland, parents love their children. 

But in Montana, we also have the extraordinary beauty of one of the last wild places for which to be thankful. And here in Montana, we like to think we live a little closer to Eden than most places, with a wealth and variety of natural resources unrivaled in the lower 48. It is one of the last places where you can still imagine what the world might have been like before Wal-Marts and freeway interchanges, before cell phone towers and skyscrapers. It's a place where you wake up in the morning, and the first sounds you hear are as likely to be birdcalls as sirens. It's a place that brims over with beauty, from the jagged mountains of the Rockies to the rolling hills and proud buttes of north-central Montana, and the wide-open prairies of the east. No part of Montana isn't kissed with beauty, and we get to live here. As the saying goes, if you're lucky enough to live in Montana, you're lucky enough. 

And for those of us fascinated by the brave men and women who settled this landscape, from the earliest Native-Americans to live in harmony with the land to the cowboys who filled it with cattle and industry, we are thankful for a place that allows history to coexist with the present. Let other states tear down their half-century-old edifices to put up a 7-11; in Montana, we are happy to live with our ghosts, always mindful of who came before us; we are here because of them. 

As you sit down to your Thanksgiving meal, whether you've got your family with you or just with you in your heart, we at Distinctly Montana wish you a day filled with love and happiness. And above all, we're thankful for you.  Without you, there would be no us.  

Happy Thanksgiving, Montana.