Changes Will Be



With or without our approval changes will come into our lives. As humans we generally do not much like change. We buy houses, establish institutions, go to endless reunions, all to hold on to some stability. But our friends move, some die, houses burn down, pets cross the rainbow bridge before their time.

I named this blog when I began it, Sidetracked Charley, because I felt derailed, shoved and forgotten on some side track or lost in a nameless train yard in Elkins, West Virginia. There is a train station there which became famous for the hundreds of lost cars stockpiled there and forgotten. I used to wonder if they would miss a caboose. Then I would plot how I would get it across the country without anyone noticing. They had not noticed it was missing.

Sometimes I think where I live is like that Elkins, West Virginia train yard. We are not on our way to any specific destination so who will miss us if we do not show up. We know all the cars around us (except during tourist season) and this is more comfortable than being Chicago during the World's Fair. Historians are just beginning to delve into the numbers who went missing during that event. Nobody kept track of who came in and who left and who didn't.

We know when someone goes missing in Angel Fire. It could take us a while because there is no radio or TV station locally. Facebook is the news of the day and not everyone is connected to that directly. We seem great at finding lost dogs but could we find a missing element of our community? It isn't like we all have 9 to 5 jobs. Many are retired, many are seasonal workers, lots like myself are self entertaining as it were. Tourists might miss a lift operator that didn't show but they will not know his name.

We know the names. And it seems of late there are a lot. Just in the last couple of weeks there was Hoot, Bill and Carl. Pillars of the community nearing their sell by date. But in the last year there have been some unexpected gone missing from our numbers.

George Burns used to say he checked the obits first thing and if his name wasn't there he was okay. Now you log on to the computer and open FaceBook and go to Better than a Bulletin Board for Angel Fire. If you name isn't there you are good to go. Or they haven't found out you are missing yet.

FaceBook just developed the Legacy account. I appointed my sister my Legacy contact. I have yet to write my will again but I handled that part. Now I wonder if I can put my will on my Timeline. Give my sister the instruction to post it upon my death.

I still want that Caboose. Would be a great lawn ornament. Or crypt.

Comments

  1. Terry RoweFebruary 13, 2015 at 5:25 AM

    Change, whether we want it or not. so true.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ien in the KootenaysFebruary 15, 2015 at 11:53 PM

    What a strange mood you must have been in to write that!? Isn't it interesting to see how the internet is weaving local connections more tightly?

    ReplyDelete

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