downtown

Big Shot

| Marie Griffith

My husband and I recently visited the city where I went to high school. The city has changed a lot and I looked forward to my Saturday run so I could see some of the new sights. One of the most interesting was an outdoor art exhibition at The Hunter Museum of American Art. I stopped my run to take a photo of this horse standing near two cerulean painted trees.

Minutes later into my run I had a sense of familiarity. I almost missed it because I was dodging pedestrians and watching traffic, but it hit me. I was on the same street where I would park my car and run into the court house to turn in documents for the attorney I worked for in high school. I hadn’t thought about that in years.

One of my teachers helped me get the job. She arranged for me to leave school early each day to work at the attorney’s office. Although I’d worked at a school supply store for a brief time before it, I consider my job with the attorney my first real job.

Sometimes I felt like a big shot, answering phones and filing papers, typing important documents and driving downtown to file dockets at the courthouse.

I was seventeen.

Maybe we all feel like big shots at seventeen.

Lines

Perspective

| Marie Griffith

I spotted this miniature scene on one of my downtown walks recently. I was surprised to find it where it was, but I was even more surprised I hadn’t noticed it before.

The tiny door sits at the bottom of a very large tree standing on the narrow grassy area between the sidewalk and the busy street. Once the door caught my eye, I stopped to take a photo. I wanted to stay and look more carefully…..to see what other tiny things I could find…… but I felt I was intruding.

And it wasn’t until I studied the photo closely that I noticed the little pumpkin or gourd with a little green leaf on top next to the door. See it? IMG_5204

I almost missed this odd little sight. Almost walked right past it like I had before.

What else do I miss? Do I see what I should see?

“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”      

C.S. Lewis (The Magician’s Nephew)

Downtown

| Marie Griffith

Most of my Mondays are spent in the historic downtown area of a nearby city. The office of the non-profit where I volunteer is there. Until the beginning of the year I’d only driven through the downtown area a few times and now it’s one of my favorite places.

Every two hours we have to move our cars or put more change in the meters which gives me a chance to enjoy a few walks during the day. I love seeing the people on the streets, some in their business attire walking briskly to make an appointment on time, some taking a stroll enjoying the sights, a couple walking their dogs, a young athlete getting her run in, or those lingering at the outdoor tables after a nice lunch.

I especially enjoy walking past all the old churches. They’re magnificent. The downtown area is dense with old churches like this Methodist church. It was originally built in the early 1800s but was burned down during the Civil War when Federal troops were quartered in the basement. The church burned down due to an act of carelessness. The troops built fires on the wooden floors to cook their food. But with courage and faith the congregation rebuilt the church and finished it in 1868. Several additions have been completed since then.

I walk past other churches too. Another Methodist church, Catholic, Episcopal and a Baptist one too.

If I’m having an exceptionally good Monday, my walks happen at the same time the church bells ring. I’m not sure which churches are ringing the bells but oh what a joyful noise it is!

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!”  Psalm 100:1