Maybe I Need A Vision Adjustment.

I realize that I write a lot about how Wallace has changed since my growing up Wallace days, and that much of what I write could be offensive to those fine people who are both Wallace natives and to those who have migrated to Wallace.

I will try to explain why I write the way that I write about the beloved home of my birth and growing up years

Wallace is like Christmas. We spend much of our adult lives trying desperately to recapture the magic of being 4 or 5 years old and coming down the winding staircase of the old family home to the sights and sounds of Christmas morning. The fire is in the fireplace, and the heavenly smells of freshly baked pastry permeate the air and immediately conjure up images of home, safety, warmth, and love.

But guess what? We are immensely disappointed if as adults, we expect the same sights, smells, and feelings that we had as children. No, we have to learn to accept life as it is now, not like it was years ago when we had a child’s perception of life.

Ok, and now to the point. When I make a once or twice a year pilgrimage to my hometown, I expect to see the wonderful Wallace that I grew up in I expect to see Morrows Department Store, J.C. Penney, Rullmans’s Men's Wear, Fonks, Elder’s Variety, the original Tabors, the Wilma Theater, the Grand Theater, Wallace Supply, The Samuel's Hotel, the Pacific Hotel, Theodore’s Men’s Wear, The Bootery, Cams, The Smokehouse when it was a place where we got our fishing licenses and bought candy bars, why patrons sat on the stools and consumed large quantities of beer, The Wallace Corner, the three drug stores, multiple physician’s offices, two hospitals, new car dealerships, full services gas stations on every corner, Runge Furniture, and bars and bars and bars, a Greyhound bus station, a very active bowling alley, and on and on and on. So, you can see why when I come to town, I am still shocked when I look and don't see any of that anymore.

I know that Christmas at my age is not the same as it was when I was 5, but, every  year, I still try to capture that magic, that thrill, that feeling of home, and so, I do that with my hometown, too. I ask that no one who reads this blog who currently lives in Wallace be offended or hurt if I say something about the way Wallace is now. 

I am only trying to recapture the my hometown the way it was when I was growing up Wallace. But, maybe I need to at least try on new glasses and see the beauty of the way it is now.