Small Town: Just Reminiscing.......

   
  I was raised in a small town.  Technically we weren't even incorporated...but we had a post-office.... once...a few years before we moved there...  Tamarack ID, population of 12 (five of whom were my immediate family).  Tamarack, Idaho (Adams Co....NOT the resort, they stole the name from us :) , home of a lumber mill, a main employer in the county.  We lived in employee housing, I think alot of  Adams, Co. kids were raised in employee housing...whether for the mill or for the local logging company. 
  My father was the kiln operator and supervised the "dry end" of the mill.  We lived on the plant and I have many memories of "milling" with my dad.  There aren't too many lumber "brats" anymore, but I was one of them.  I remember riding the fork lift around with my dad, testing moisture content in the lumber bunks and sitting outside smelling the fresh cut wood.  Lumber milling is nearly a lost art form.  I was so blessed to have been raised the way I was.
  I bussed to school in New Meadows, graduated in a class of 17 (and yes, it was public school).  Growing up "small town",  we knew everyone!  It seemed everyone was almost family....I don't think I will ever let go of that...whether I want to or not.  Our class of 17 still chats on facebook, and probably will until we grow old.
  Growing up in the mountains of West Central Idaho provided for an amazing childhood.  We had a million acres (or it seemed) of wooded playground in our backyard.  We hiked, picked huckleberries, mushrooms, wild flowers and swam in the Weiser river.  Summers were amazing there.....  Our parents turned us loose and didn't worry .  We would hike all day by ourselves, and return for supper.  Many Janette Oke books were consumed in a tree fort while wearing a homemade prairie dress and black boots...(I am glad no one knew, though no one would be surprised).
  The summer Driver's Ed. instructor taught us all to drive on one of two paved highways through the county.  To practice "passing" we had our various mothers pull in front of the drivers ed car, so we could then pass them.  Completing our drivers ed class did not require freeway driving, or lane changes, as there was only one lane...and the nearest freeway was a hundred miles away.
  We all learned to swim in one of two hotsprings in the county...or the local river.  We all cheered for the eight football players on our eight-man football team (who cares if we never won) :) The kindergarden kiddos attended the same school as did our senior high students....and we all ate in the same cafeteria.
  Life wasn't always a bowl of cherries, but it was pretty sweet.   I pray my children have the fond memories of childhood that I do.  I pray that as a parent now, I can help make those special memories for them....or at least sew my girls some prairie dresses and pass down my Janette Oke books.
           Just reminiscing.........
 
  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
                     James 1:17

Yantis Ditch, New Meadows ID