We're here in my hometown of Challis, Idaho, visiting with all my old classmates and their spouses and a few miscellaneous folks here and there who have formed an attachment to our bunch.
There's an advantage to growing up in a small town--everyone knows everyone. The same thing can also be a disadvantage, I know, but it makes for a safe feeling. A woman can walk to a neighbor's house with confidence. A child is safe walking to school.
Usually.
Except sometimes we can get overconfident, overly trusting. Something that had never happened before, a child disappearing, happened about thirty years ago. She was walking past the school at night--at least that is what is assumed because that's as far as tracking dogs could track her--when someone picked her up in a vehicle and left. The whole town turned out to search for her. A nationwide hunt ensued. The then eight-year-old girl has never been found.
So far as I know, that had never happened before, and it has not happened since. One time is one time too many.
Still--it's nice here. Friends and relatives surround each other with caring and helps whenever needed. Benefits for those who have losses beyond their capabilities to pay are common. I could move back here (after fifty years away) and be immediately accepted back into the community. Whereas if I moved away from where I live now, the only ones who even notice I was gone are ones I go to church or Toastmasters with.
Oh, goodness, here I have rambled on for a full page and said...nothing. What's my point? Um, what point? Just rambling. Just reminiscing. Would you like to reminisce and bring up old memories and friends?
May God guide your ramblings today.
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