"To this place, I owe everything." - Abraham Lincoln
Although Abraham Lincoln was not born in Illinois, he made this state his home, hence the phrase "Land of Lincoln". The above phrase was spoken in an address at the Great Western Depot in Springfield, Illinois, as Lincoln left to serve as President in Washington, D.C.
A truer phrase was never written. The older you get, the more you realize how much of your character has been forged by a place....a place you call home. I know people who have wandered the globe searching for "something more". Perhaps the answer for them is there is nothing more. Nothing more than the simplest lessons you learn at the simplest place - that place you call home.
Recently I met a woman who lives out on Sauber Road, which is very rural and mostly untraveled. When I mentioned that I'd been out there many times taking photographs she looked rather startled. "I've never thought of Sauber Road as a destination," she said.
Yes, Sauber Road is a destination, and we need to take the time to recognize and celebrate the places where we live.
My DNA memory is also imprinted with the moody swamps of the Florida panhandle, where my father was born and raised, and where we spent summers. It becames that exotic landscape which also shaped who I am today.
5 comments:
I credit the Florida part for your keen eye :)
Recognizing and celebrating our own backyards seems to be a great challenge . . . at least for me. Put me on a plane, train or automobile and the world seems fresh. Leave me at "home"--wherever that may be--and life can seem stale. I realize I need to shift perspective. Congratuations for finding beauty in your world.
Love the flat prairie where you can see for miles. Since we moved so much, home had to be where the family was.
I was in Illinois briefly on Saturday. We visited Lock and Dam #16, but there was no traffic, and the wind was blowing, so we didn't stick around. I have three nephews and a niece in Illinois though.
The wind was blowing??? Yep, that's Illinois. I'd love to see the locks and dams in action, especially after reading River Horse.
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