hile I was in Idaho recently, I found myself looking around for photos to take for my 365 project. I did this in March when I was there as well, and ended up with some kind of cool photos - but most of those were taken outside of the town I grew up in. This time I tried really hard to look at my little town with different eyes - so instead of passing by things I've passed a million times and not really noticed, I noticed things in new ways. Even though I was there a really short time, it was kind of enlightening to me. I was tramping around the rail road tracks on Sunday morning taking most of these. I saw people walking to church and looking at me like they wondered what on earth I was doing. I was actually really enjoying it.
When Holden was there for school, he and his friends spent a lot of time exploring the town in ways I never did - and he saw it with very different eyes. He saw it with the eyes of someone who has always lived in a large city. Because I grew up there, I often don't quite see it the same way, it's just Rexburg. It's just the place I grew up. But after Holden lived there for year, I began to see more what it really looks like - or I guess what it looks like to people who have never lived there before.
Holden often missed the vertical aspect of living in a city. He missed the downtown scene. He missed the mixture of neighborhoods. I tried to explain this to someone but I'm not sure they understood what I was trying to say...this whole idea of a mixture of neighborhoods. I think it makes a place more interesting. The variety of it, it breathes life into the city. It gives things a vibe, an energy, an animus. You can feel it in the air. I actually really like it. In one conversation at my high school reunion I asked a girl if she still lived in a city where I knew she had been living for a long while, and she said that no, they missed it, but with the cost of living there and the school districts being kind of crappy, and the crime being a lot higher than where they were living now...well, if you could afford to live in a great neighborhood there, it would be okay, but with all those things to consider...and I heard myself jump right in there and say "Oh but I love that...the crappy school districts, the crime filled neighborhoods...I love all of it.". And she looked at me like I was completely insane. I didn't plan on saying that, but I did because...well, it's kind of true. Admittedly, my kids go to a good school and I feel safe most of the time...so maybe that's stupid of me to say. But look, even the allegedly "scary" schools are really not as scary as people like to pretend, and I'm sorry, but really, no one NEEDS to live in a gated community. Well...maybe some people really like living in a gated community, so I shouldn't judge, but I do not need to live in a gated community. I don't miss living in a rural community either. But there are things about it that I can appreciate. Like being able to see the stars so clearly at night. Wherever you live, there will always be a trade-off.
But I digress, here are my latest 365 photos, all taken in rural Idaho:
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