"Village"

I lived in an actual “village” when I was a child.  It became a “city” in 1970, and I remember the excitement that we were going big-time, with loads of new opportunities and growth just around the corner!  It was a time full of a retro tv sitcom kind of enthusiasm, at least a decade after all the places with actual growth potential had already grown.

Let’s face it, we had a hilly, picturesque landscape that still had quite a few farms.  It came as a surprise when the most westerly corner was deemed acceptable for shopping, and apartment buildings.  There's even a McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts now.

I preferred being a “village”.  That sounded quaint, and I liked us being quaint.  Hansel and Gretel about to be eaten by a witch in the woods was our kind of thing.  We didn't have any kind of central town.  My great-grandpa lived in what looked like an actual village to me: a cluster of houses, a blinking light in the middle, a few shops.

This week I read Levi's Will by Dale Cramer.  This book talks about the area where Great-grandpa lived, which is crazy since hardly anyone lives there (pop. 423 in 2010) and a lot of them that do are Amish, and Amish don't write books to the best of my knowledge.  Maybe more crazy is that somehow I'm related to Dale.  I've forgotten how we're related since my family is "English" (not Amish), but Great-grandma was a Cramer in the same microclimate.

I knew we were related when I picked up the book, but I mostly forgot about that as I read.  It's an interesting story with a lot of tidbits about Amishdom.  Other people must've liked it too because I see Dale has more books published.  I'm thinking of reading them.

Creativity must be inheritable, or perhaps certain families foster creativity?  I think about this when I have to communicate with people who simply don't think like me.  Rule-bound, linear thinking is an obstacle that can't be overcome.  They see no need to change their ways, which means a creative solution is required, which of course will be disregarded since they disapprove of creativity.  (Yeah, it's been like that lately.)

Sometimes I fantasize about running away to a village somewhere, or maybe to some place more isolated and buried in a forest.  I could be the evil witch in the woods luring children with candy?  Except I probably would worry about the kids' teeth and wonder why they didn't have adult supervision.  I might invite them in for tea and come up with cool art projects while I educated them about important stuff like questioning authority.  Well, maybe not that since they ran away from home in the first place, but I'm sure I could come up with other topics for their enlightenment and opposition to boxed thinking.  Maybe it's a good thing I bought tea and cookies yesterday?

On a different topic, I saw crocuses this week!  I also learned a new thing.  They close their flowers when it snows.  I was a little undecided whether to feel happy to see flowers or grumble about the snow, but ultimately the important thing is spring is coming!!