I WONDER WHAT THEY WILL THINK

          Who are they?  Why am I wondering what they will think?  As to the who, I don't know.  What  I do know is that someone in the United Kingdom (UK) has purchased my first autobiography, BITS and PIECES, which was originally written in 1970 and released in 1972.

          As for the what will they think - I can't even begin to imagine.  My autobiographies are written as a 12 month journal outlining life in general in a small rural community.  And I do mean RURAL.

          West Alexander Pa is a very small (possibly population 1200) town in the middle of no-where.
In the 1970's it was all farms, cattle, sheep, goats, crops.  The little town had a post office, bank, two small (very small) grocery stores, bank, hardware and gas station and a grade school.  Maybe a small snack bar, not really a restaurant.  Life was slow, peaceful, and even though we had the interstate, anyone on said interstate did not even know there was a town.  Just a sign saying West Alexander.  Just a dot on the map.

          And so I am wondering, what will this brave soul in the UK that purchased said book, think upon reading it?    And if they do, will they be interested in purchasing the follow-up, written in 2006 (36 years  after the first book) and, strangely enough titled THIRTY SIX YEARS LATER.

          Thirty six years later the town is still small (maybe the population is still 1200).  We have a post office.  that's right, a post office.  The bank is gone, so are the two grocery stores.  The grade school is now the community center and Donegal Township police headquarters.  No gas station, no hardware store.  But we do have 3 churches - Methodist, Presbyterian and Christian.  They are the center of all activities in our small community, and all three are very active and hard working. 

          Life goes on, but never stays the same.  I have seen the farms being sold and homes built.  I have seen the consolidation of many grade schools into one or two.  I have seen just 4 miles down the road a large rural area being built into a shopping mecca with stores, restaurants, theaters, college branches, a little bit of everything.  But West Alexander is still rural, laid back, life in the slow lane type of place.

           Even with the new homes being built, we are still a sleepy little town.  I know it is not possible for it to stay this way forever, but at least for my life time I still have my sleepy little piece of tranquility.  I am blessed to live in the country, on a farm, on top of a hill, 360 degree view, and all the wildlife to watch that you can imagine.  How can it get any better than this?