What's the Story?

When I was young, I wondered how people could abandon homes. Now that I am older and have a better understanding of life, I know how it happens.

The old folks die, the young people have moved on. They haven't the money or the inclination to keep the place up. Being a landlord is not a fun job, nor is it financially rewarding. Better to board the place up, or just pay the taxes and be done with it.

But they are sad, abandoned houses. They look like they have a story to tell.

Maybe this one was the home of a big family once. It was filled with laughter and joy, pain and sorrow. It's walls are filled with the ghosts of another time.

Some man and his sons farmed the lands around this home, and his wife canned tomatoes and taught the girls how to sew. She tended the yard and grew flowers, trimmed back those boxwoods, and generally made life tidy and neat. She cooked dinner every evening and breakfast each morning.

And now the place that housed them is nothing more than a symbol that they existed at all.

Interesting, isn't it, that humans can build things which outlast them not just by years but by centuries. I don't know how old this house is - I've never been good at judging architectural styles - but it still stands and the humans are gone. Maybe they simply up and moved, but they are gone, nevertheless.