Moving here 17 years ago I was struck by the small town atmosphere. So different than that I had grown up in. There were few cars on the single lane highway to get here from Los Angeles. The ride was worthy of rolling down the windows to let the pungent fragrance of orange blossoms filter through the car... that is after you passed the dairy farms. Pulling into the driveway of our single story sprawling ranch house with it's 3/4 acre lot awaiting horses for boarding. The skies at night were so pitch that even on cloudy evenings the stars and planets shone as brightly as any I had ever seen in a desert sky. The dead calm and stillness in the air was filled with the sounds of nocturnal animals. Frogs croaking loudly from the lake, the owls roosting in our eves, the coyotes cries to one another tracking prey. My neighbors on our cul-de-sac were all youngish families with children all about the same age as mine. We were a tight knit bunch who held backyard bbqs and bunco parties every weekend. The kids all growing up together attending school and themed birthday parties. There was only one stop sign and that was at the busiest intersection in the middle of town. Not a single paved road. All the Mom & Pop stores knew you by name and there was no such thing as WalMart. We did have a K-mart with the friendliest clerks you would ever want to meet. They were more than happy to give you their address to come dig plants in their yards if they saw you purchase something from the garden dept. that they already had established just to save you some money. To get there you had to drive around the Lake. It took all of maybe 10 minutes. On a clear day you could see straight down to the bottom of it and catch a glimpse of our fabled monster. Look up in the other direction and see the remains of Aimees Castle steeped in so much rich history.....
it's......
all......
gone.
And so I start anew. To return to some semblance of this life where I was so happy. They call it Tennessee. I know it will be home to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment