Our Geography

Living here is all about the geography of this land. Today was one of those hot, huge blue sky, open western front sort of days. Driving north this morning to Tremonton for home visits I was completely absorbed in the Wasatch - the mountain range - with its 9000' peaks. The road was good, my Jeep was flying, and I felt like a wild west woman. My return to Brigham this afternoon had the same feel of wide open spaces and places. After work the evening unfolded into the mundane and yet the unusual. The dogs needed a bigger water bowl in the backyard and I decided to check out the selection at the one and only hardware store in town. At least three very nice people asked me if I needed help. One of them took me to the pet supply area and explained, "This large bucket is just right for my dogs." "Oh, I have a black lab and a blue heeler." "Why, me too. They both love this bucket right here." "Hum, I wonder if Shasta would put her head into a bucket that deep." "Oh, sure she would. My dog does." Well, that was all the endorsement I needed, having this brief conversation with a complete stranger about our beloved dogs. I settled on the slightly smaller bucket, paid my little bill, and left the one and only hardware store in Brigham City. I carefully maneuvered around the enormous truck offloading hay bales in the parking lot. Next, I needed to make one of my weekly visits to the closest fresh fruit stand along the 'fruit mile' from Brigham to Willard. This area has been known for cherries, peaches, nectarines, etc., for decades. When we first moved here I didn't understand all of this, but now I've got it down. Just last week the good peaches started coming into the stands. Oh, and the corn arrives by the forklift load every morning, too. We've eaten tons of corn this month, but I'm not cut out of the same cloth as my good pioneer neighbors. I don't buy and buy and buy in order to can and can and can. No, I shop like the urbanite that I am and only buy what we'll eat within the next few days. Tonight's purchase was corn, peaches, green beans, and one cantaloupe. I got back into my Jeep and headed north back towards town in the 93 degree 6:30 pm heat with the sun still blazing across the desert floor. I made the all-to-familiar turn towards the angst of my world - walmart. No, I won't even capitalize it because I don't like going there, but in our small town with only one store for this and no store for that, we don't have much choice. I went to get essentials like milk and some other things. My head goes wild with questions every time I go into this store. How did that poor old man end up in that scooter at the door checking receipts? Why do so many of these people look so unhappy? Why are so many of them unhealthy, morbidly obese, and battling to just get through the store? What happened in their lives to end up like this? Why does that mom have six kids with another one on the way? How are these people supposed to feed their huge families and raise healthy children? How little are they getting paid and why am I shopping here anyway? Back out into the still hot evening and on my way home I reconnect with the essential geography of this place. Contrasting the small hardware store, the friendly fruit stand and the big box store experience was easy. Understanding it was something else. In the geography of my life I zoom from here to there in my big wild west way and in my travels I see some of us are doing better than others. Some of us have the time and spare money to buy dog buckets at the hardware store. Some of us have time, transportation and money to spend on fresh fruit picked just this morning. Some of us can barely get from one point to the next without grand effort and little fanfare. Some of us study the school supply list and wonder how we'll buy everything every child will need. Some of us buy whatever we want, whenever we want without a thought about anyone else. All of us live here, there and everywhere. Over the years I've wandered the geography of many places. Each unique and beautiful. Each full of all the people I met and saw this evening. As we are morally and ethically bound to one another when one struggles, so do we all. When one soars, so do we all. When one beseeches God for mercy, so should we all. When one revels in the beauty, grace and hope of place, so should we all. So should we all.