Long Distance x Yellowstone

Less than a week until my husband joins us in Georgia! I cannot wait to be together again and I am praying to the high heavens that Baby Nuevo Laredo hangs in there just a few more days.

Thankfully, these last six weeks have flown by. Our respective duties keep us occupied. I don’t take for granted the ways in which our partnership adapts. Our life, last year in quarantine in our two bedroom apartment, was spent together 24/7 - managing a toddler and a WFH office in the living room packed with hours of Zoom calls - yet we quickly found ways to balance work, family, and space. Now apart, our daughter looks forward to her nightly video chats with her Papa. And once she’s asleep, we connect over our days and have even managed to find a television show we both enjoy - which is usually next to impossible.

While he enjoys the gamut of new television shows and movies, I retreat to rom-coms, mindless reality, and Gilmore Girls episodes I’ve seen thousands of times. We appreciate the few shows that bring us together and as we countdown the days until we’re reunited, these evenings are a sweet escape from our daily responsibilities and long distance hardships. Almost certainly they’ll be a fond memory of a quieter time before our new chapter as parents of two begins. For this, I am grateful for the discovery of Yellowstone.

Yellowstone follows a family who controls one of the largest ranches in Montana and is under constant attack from gentrifying land developers. It glorifies life as a cowboy with gorgeous views of Montana. It's a series about freedom, loyalty, and ownership and a show of white male hypermasculinity. Juxtaposed to this family are Native Americans whose reservation neighbors the ranch and throughout the series, these two parties cling to the last vestiges of their belief in land as part of their identity. I am continually conflicted by who the true owners of the land is. Yellowstone is unapologetic in its version of America, which can feel archaic but each evening I’m persuaded by their conviction to hold onto what they believe in at all costs. Their conviction is something to stand behind, uncomplicated at its core, entertaining, and I fully recommend.