Rurality
Check out dok1's, Twan Teunissen's, and belindakelle's photos on Flickr. Nice.
Did you know that we are rapidly switching from being rural to primarily urban dwellers here on planet Earth? (Hat tip to Solara.)
One of my fondest memories happens at this time of year. I'm 14. My dad lets me and my 11-year-old sister drive his gray and red 1948 Ford tractor around and around the pasture, eventually turning us loose together down the rural road. She drives. I stand on the back, hands on her shoulders.
We are wearing flannel shirts and blue-denim overalls. My hair is in two long braids. Our barn burns bright red in the late afternoon light. It's cavernous loft is stuffed to the brim with hay.
The maple trees are a crimson tide against the fence. There's an entire forest on the other side, filled with shadows and all the mysteries of the universe. A cold clear creek runs not too far beyond that. In the winter, I will glide across it on ice skates. My mom waves to us from her seat on the hand-hewn mounting block that's been outside the two heavy sliding barn doors for over 200 years.
Last night, a deliciously cool undercurrent wafts along the foot of our mesa, meandering along the Pecos. My family sits outside almost every night now, watching the sun go down. A horse whinnies from the barn. We cling steadfast to the final vestige of summer.
And I pull my old gray flannel shirt closer, clinging to this rural way of life. I wrap it up in my arms. Hold it tight.
