“Wide Open Spaces” by the Dixie Chicks is a good companion piece to my previous post called “Toys in the Attic” which covered the pain of realizing your child has outgrown playing with their beloved toys. In this song, the parents have to come to grips with the sobering reality that their little girl is leaving the nest into the wild blue yonder known as life.

The other scary part of this seems to be the fact that you know they will make “big mistakes” which is why you have to give them plenty of room to grow as adults, hence wide open spaces. Still, you hope that your children will remember all of the valuable lessons you’ve taught them, not just verbally but via actions as well. Perhaps through osmosis?

My kids are still many years away from jumping ship but I’m already preparing for that day and making many pre-flight checklists. I’m trying to lead by example and by giving them little spaces to grow and make mistakes to learn from. Nothing major or dangerous, mind you, just little opportunities for growth for self-confidence. It’s also good practice for me in learning how to someday let go and let them fly away.

WIDE OPEN SPACES

Who doesn’t know what I’m talking about
Who’s never left home, who’s never struck out
To find a dream and a life of their own
A place in the clouds, a foundation of stone
Many precede and many will follow
A young girl’s dream no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out west
But what it holds for her, she hasn’t yet guessed
[Chorus:]
She needs wide open spaces
Room to make her big mistakes
She needs new faces
She knows the high stakes
She traveled this road as a child
Wide eyed and grinning, she never tired
But now she won’t be coming back with the rest
If these are life’s lessons, she’ll take this test
[Repeat Chorus]
She knows the high stakes
As her folks drive away, her dad yells, “Check the oil!”
Mom stares out the window and says, “I’m leaving my girl”
She said, “It didn’t seem like that long ago”
When she stood there and let her own folks know
[Repeat Chorus]
She knows the highest stakes
She knows the highest stakes
She knows the highest stakes
She knows the highest stakes