Changes (in TC)



Trees are blooming where a perfectly good house once stood--signs of progress in our small town



"They" are widening the roads here in The Colony.  Our four-lane state FM is about to get wider, and we're very excited about it (even though we're not excited about the construction-related traffic). 

But it's been kind of weird.  We've lived here for eight years now, and we've already seen quite a few changes.  But this change is big.  The city/state (not sure which) has been purchasing up a lot of land to use for the development, and that means buildings are disappearing left and right (literally, on the left and right side of the road). 

I saw the absolute weirdest change last year one day on my way to school when a giant bulldozer reached up and took a chunk out of a perfectly good house.  I saw the first chunk removed, and it looked partly like a movie and partly like a children's game.  I may have had my camera with me, but the only thing I could think to do while I was driving was grab my phone and call Jeff excitedly, because I knew he'd think it was cool and want to hear a play-by-play. 

I'd say about 15 buildings have been removed.  It's been surreal.

On the one hand, we've got this progress that we absolutely need.  On the other hand, the buildings destroyed (mostly homes and gas stations, but one bank, too) belonged to people and were either their livelihoods or the place where they made their lives.  That's kind of sad.

So yesterday something really caught my eye.  Where the houses were removed, the landscaping was kept.  I'm not sure if the trees (planted with love, if they are like the trees in our yard) are going to be relocated or removed at a later date.  But yesterday, where a house once stood, the Bradford Pear tree was in full bloom.  I thought about the significance of it all...

The house made by man was gone, but the tree--God's sign for growth--remained.  It was serenely lonely and beautifully majestic, all at once. 

It will be interesting to see the rest of the project unfold....



Signs of progress in TC