Give Thanks...For How We Used To Live

 If it weren't for the car in the far left of the picture, or the telephone/cable box just slightly right of center in front of the buildings (and, had I not adjusted the photo by removing all color...), this could be a picture of many places in America in the mid-twentieth Century. It's not...I snapped it today driving home from church.

I live about three miles from here. Where I live looks much different. Like most places, the town we call home was built in sections. Much of it sprang up when Thiokol Chemical Corporation built a rocket-building facility about twenty miles to the west. You can see the homes built during the 1950s and 1960s. They're small, a single story above ground.

Then, as farmers sold their property, new housing developments were built. They too were a reflection of their times. Larger houses, bigger yards, bigger garages--you see the pattern over and over again. Even where we live, homes built in the last twenty years. They define those who built them and those who live in them.

Still...

There's a beauty in the rural, in the structures built with wood, tin, and nails, built for livestock or to store food, and also to house those who cared for the animals, for the land.

The structures are a testament to the people who settled the high desert. They worked spring, summer, and fall to sustain them through the tough and cold winters. Then, it began all over again until they died. Most of us no longer live that lifestyle. And had those who came before not persevered, not survived, life would be much different than it is now.

When I turned down the street and saw the scene before me, it made me think of my ancestors and I'm grateful for their example. I'm also thankful there are reminders so close to where we live showing all of us, how life used to be.