“Well, I have to take Luke home and then I’ll do a load of laundry and pick up Nana from rehab. Yeah, it shouldn’t take too long.”
That’s just part of a phone conversation I overheard in the bathroom of a travel center while we were on vacation. Really…
While there are subtle differences in how people live from state to state and city to city I believe most of them are caused by climate and geographical differences, not inherent differences in human nature. We are adaptable creatures so we tend to fit into our environment. My daily activities were somewhat different when we lived in the desert, because they had to be. But the basics of home, school, church, shopping, etc. weren’t much different from my life in the city. The role of a woman/wife/mother is pretty typical no matter where she is located. I say that as a preface to my observations during vacation that people are just plain folks, no matter where they live! I guess we’re all doing the best we can to be happy, healthy, and somewhat prosperous.
If you stop and consider that we are shopping at the same stores, eating at the same restaurants, using the same technology, watching the same movies and television shows, and interacting on the same social sites it is no wonder that we are more comfortable than ever in other parts of the country. As we chatted casually with other travelers or listened to locals at restaurants or interacted with people at stores it was difficult to remember that we were in a different place, temporarily part of a different community. When we stopped at Walmart in NM there were two women talking in the produce aisle and when we finished our shopping they were still talking! I could have sworn we were in Oklahoma! One woman at an antique store in CA found out I work in genealogy and told me an interesting story about her family. I honestly think we could have talked for hours. Another person was eager to discuss the fires in Colorado and I think she just wanted someone to share her fears for her family. One woman I met was having trouble with her child- who was about to start kindergarten! A man leaving a restaurant spotted my OU shirt and smiled. “Don’t go in,” he said, “the game is on and you don’t want to see the score.”
Perhaps there are differences between rich and poor, between famous and not, between Christian and not…but for the most part it’s just us plain folks out here in the world trying our best to survive.
Amen to that!
Posted by: Megan | July 05, 2012 at 08:32 AM