On My Watch

Let me know when you leave for here. Let me know when you get home. Don't laugh.  How many times have you heard me say this? My kids will say all, and I do mean ALL the time. 

I know they can get everywhere they need to go in life without checking in with me.  But on my watch, I need to know they are safe.   

On my watch in the city, I used to pray whenever I heard a siren or saw a cop or fire truck en route.  Now my watch includes the farmers, the crop dusters, the truckers on the road and an occasional 13 stripe squirrel racing for his hole in the road. Now why? Why would a squirrel build a home in the middle of the road? Boggles my little blonde head I tell you.   

My watch include our dogs and foster dogs.  My social media friends, and you bet, their dogs too.  I should be tired from all this watching, but mostly I am blessed.

Lately I've been watching the corn and beans grow and the pivot roll. I walk the garden and watch it grow daily.  I watch the 4 0'clocks open and close. Sometimes twice a day. Probably sounds like I've lost my mind.  But I beg to differ. 

In the comings and goings of life we need to watch more of what we love. And love more of what we watch. So if I ask you to let me know when you get home, or when you are leaving for here take it as a compliment.  I rest easier when all on my watch are safe and accounted for.  

Next Four Exits....

Next four exits....could mean anything.  Last chances, next chances, close to the destination, beyond....

We have four exits...and have a sign to prove it.  Now, the state didn't post the sign.  It's tongue-in-cheek.  It looks like a genuine road sign, but it is just a genuine reproduction of a road sign. Sometimes we need a sign. Sometimes we are the sign.

Patterson, Main, and Scott are three of the exits.  Don't blink or you'll miss them. Now, I'll have to do some research to figure out who Patterson and Scott are, or were as the case may be.  Main Street goes without saying. Pretty much every town is founded with a Main Street. Perhaps you drive one daily.

The story is told that the sign was for visitors from the East coast coming for a wedding.  They kept asking for directions and which exit to take. Granted we are a little difficult to find.  But which exit is rarely an issue. Perhaps you can see the humor in our sign saying Stockham, Next 4 Exits.

The last exit, or the first depending on which way you are coming, is Grace Street.  Quite fitting.  We could all use a street full of grace. Maybe even more than a street full.  If that is the case, I'd like all the exits to lead to grace.  The next four, heck, even the next 44.  Even if that never happens, I know we've found grace in Stockham.  

Little Town

Over the years we've downsized just a bit.  From living in a city with a population of roughly 1.3 million residents within a 50 mile radius, to a city with a population just shy of 50,000, to a village with a population of about 42.  You might think we're nuts. There was a time we pondered that possibility. Now, we know for a fact insanity is not our problem. Okay, you might still think we're nuts, but we don't and that's all that matters.

Since we live just outside of town, we rarely see the other 42 of our closest neighbors.  Good thing I like my husband.  Better yet I like the privacy, best of all we love the countryside.

What we are delighting in is the sense of community and camaraderie we have found in our little town. It's like an onion (assuming you like onions), layer upon layer to be unpeeled over the seasons. 

A year ago, we'd been here for 9 months and hardly knew a soul. Speculation was we were members of the witness protection program. Now we know most everyone, and we're slightly less suspect. We've been to the town bbq/street dance, July 4th picnic, golf tournament, glow ball tournament, hog butchering, the local cemetery and a progressive dinner.  In no specific order. There is a men's group and a women's group.  This might be heaven.

Alright, I heard you snicker at that last comment.  Life is what you make of it. It is not the size of the city that makes you belong.  It is the investment you make in it.  

So on this Independence Day we celebrate our country, and our "country".   We do this with fireworks in the sky, in our hearts and gratitude for our little town.