Old House

Along the road I drive most days for the past five years was an old house on the hill. I had always thought it would make a good picture. A caption...Nobody's home. As the house was empty and had the look of being empty for a long time. But thinking about it at some time in its history someone did indeed live there. Someone built it, lived in it, planted trees around it to break the wind and loved it. I imagine a family choosing to build their house on the edge of a hill where they could see over the valley.
I imagine folks sitting on the front porch and talking about their lives, or their children or their parents and what was happening in their lives. It impressed me and in the drives I made I would create in my imagination a story around them. When and how did they came to Oklahoma? What encouraged them to leave their first homes and venture into a new place? Were they happy even if life was particularly hard? What impact did they have in their world?

Last Sunday on the way to church the house looked particularly vulnerable. There were marks of a fire that had passed nearby but not in the house. I thought I could see through it easier than I could the last time I passed.

Five hours later, on the way home I got to that spot in the road and looked for the house. It had collapsed. It was roof on walls on the ground! The time had passed for a picture of it standing. Time had passed to discover what it looked like up close. It was amazing I said Ahhhh out loud to myself.

Would that the family would have passed on to another family this house--home. Would that we would pass on to others something that is important to us. Then those things we treasure would be loved and maintained and perhaps not fall down.
Consider giving away something you love today--passing it on to someone to follow you--so that it may be loved as well.

God abides- I thank God!
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2006