Today

 

This morning I heard the clock chiming on the square.

Beautiful, clear tones that have rung out the hour for longer than I can remember.

This is the part of Taylorville I love.

Not the gossiping, back biting, sordid sharing over backyard fences. Not the cheap shopping in stores that constantly change around the square. Not the made up country vibes the people like to pretend are our heritage.

But the actual heritage. 

A prairie town that sent soldiers to the civil war. A town that survived the depression because starving grocers extended credit to hungry families. A town surrounded by farms that grew corn and hogs and turned marshland in fields.

A place where education is important and each generation sees fewer drop outs. A place whose local newspaper transitioned to online, but still goes on. A cemetery full of history and a library that has outgrown the old Carnegie Library of my mother's childhood.

I remember waking up hearing the clock chiming the hour at my beginning and now, as I approach my ending, it still goes on.

These are the memorable parts of small town living.