Only in the Country

I originally wrote this in the summer of 2009, but it is just one of the many reasons why people still choose to live many miles from stores, hospitals, cultural happenings, and 1,000,001 other things that most people deem "necessities."

Traffic Delay in the Country

            Near my parents’ farm, a bridge spans the Arkansas River. The bridge completed in the 1920s was constructed with only Model-Ts in mind; after all, they were the most modern mode of transportation for the ordinary family at the time. Most drivers view it as a one-lane bridge, but my father always reminds me that it is a two-lane bridge – by early twentieth century standards.

The Belford Bridge over the Arkansas River on the east end where I was waiting.

             One summer afternoon as I approached the west end of the bridge, I could tell my parents’ rural mail carrier was waiting ahead of me. I knew that meant a vehicle traveling east was approaching us on the bridge. After waiting a few minutes, a combine belonging to a custom cutter slowly appeared. I deduced that it was a custom cutter from out of our area since I did not recognize him. Everyone knows everyone else in a rural area like ours.
            The postal carrier and I waited a little longer and another piece of machinery emerged followed by a grain truck. I waved at each vehicle because that is just how it is in our little community. Friendliness abounds.

           As another grain truck appeared, I could tell the postal carrier was waving and the driver of the wheat truck had his left arm extended vigorously waving back at her.  As the truck passed my car, I could tell it was my cousin flashing a warm smile at me as he waved cordially. Behind him was another wheat truck driven by his nephew who I had taught in my third grade classroom over 15 years earlier. We always hug when we meet, but since we were both in vehicles a hearty wave had to do. 

Tim (the cousin) and Susan Gates with Jayson (the nephew) and Lori Gates.

Connie Jo Evatt Goad, the
Big Bend's Rural Carrier

         While I drove the mile or so more to reach my parents’ farm, I couldn’t help but reflect that only in a rural area could a traffic delay leave a person in a terrific mood with such a strong feeling of warmth and friendliness. Why is that? In the Bend, there is such a strong sense of community. People genuinely care about what is happening to their neighbors. They live out the teaching of Jesus when He said in Mark 12:31, "Love your neighbor as yourself." My ninety-year-old father would say, “That’s why I live here!”
         To top it off, it made Dad’s afternoon when I arrived at the farm and when he asked who I had seen, I replied to his delight that his nephew and great-nephew had almost fallen out of the truck to wave at the east end of the bridge. Oh, that traffic delays were like this elsewhere!

Jayson Gates with his great-uncle, Edmund Gates, Jr., my father.