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2019 08 23

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Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v16n17)

Poetic Thoughts - The Little Old Lady - by C.W. Pruitt II

posted: Aug. 23, 2019

I visited Girdwood, Alaska, during the Midnight Sun. The mountains there possess overwhelming beauty which seems to heighten the natural senses of all those who visit and live there.

All manner of outdoor activity is done there. Skiing, fishing, hiking, biking and on and on. It is quite a celebration of the natural world.

During the Midnight Sun, people mingle easily outside while on route to participation in nature at all hours of the day and night. In this glorious natural setting, time becomes irrelevant.

This small town inspired a small story:

The Little Old Lady

The little old lady knew everyone in town. This was important to her. She welcomed new people to town. She kept track of births and deaths and made it her duty to know such things as rites of passage which mark the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Her mother made this her duty and her grandmother before her. She was often thought eccentric or old fashioned in such a way that was not suggestive of a throwback to simpler times. She knew this, but continued to know everyone in town.

When she died, her duty began to make a lot of sense to the people in the community. A girl who was making the passageway from childhood to adulthood began making it her duty to know everyone in town.

And so it goes...

One thousand years later, there is an old lady who knows everyone in town.

I do not know the name of this town, but it translates as `The Town With The Old Lady Who Knows Everyone In Town.'

C. W. Pruitt II

Girdwood, Alaska

June 17, 2007

During The Midnight Sun

cw@broadripplegazette.com

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