the tribute

The jungle’s moved back in, seemingly overnight, and the place that was bare is covered in vegetation again.

That’s what happens where I live.

That’s the way we roll in Western North Carolina.

We’d all be covered up with green if we didn’t try to beat it back.

My neighbor passed away last week….but while he was with us, the overgrown piece of land he lived on was bare and controlled.

He spent all his time outside….raking….raking and waving at all of us as we passed by in our cars.

Sometimes, I stopped for a quick visit….but usually, I was working at getting home…so a wave was all that we shared.

It’s kind of a strange thing to see a man out raking sunup to sundown.

Sometimes I wondered what he was up to….standing outside with a rake (and a beer hidden in his bib overalls) working at letting the brown dirt show again for a while.

It was hard work keeping the green from taking over.

I don’t know that there could be a better tribute to the man who raked all day than such a visible reminder of what he was up to while he was here.

So….that’s the way I’m seeing it all….that this new growth is a reminder of what his efforts produced.

I’m remembering that he stood outside and raked….all day long….every day….and that, while he was doing it, there wasn’t a bit of grass or honeysuckle or briar…..it was clean and managed.

Maybe it wasn’t really about the dirt or the vegetation……maybe it was all about the waving and visiting, anyway.

Maybe the raking was just an excuse to be out by the road….where folks might stop for a second and say hello.

It’s hard to say.

Some of this stuff is so consistent that it’s easy to take it all for granted.

It’s easy to take a lot for granted.

This green is coming back again….coming back strong.

It was different for a while.

New growth is the best tribute that I can notice.

About Peter Rorvig

I'm a non-practicing artist, a mailman, a husband, a father...not listed in order of importance. I believe that things can always get better....and that things are usually better than we think.

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