ࡱ> ')&M bjbj== &WWlvvvv         $ T00E  h   `@}dv  [0  Home Sweet Home by Dianne Collier There are so many cute verses and sayings floating around the Internet these days that I almost always automatically press delete without viewing them. They take a long time to download onto my computer and when pictures and graphics are attached, it has become annoying waiting for these long messages, sent by well meaning friends and relatives, to be received. In the meantime, it ties up my computer a machine that I rely on constantly. And, the receiver doesnt necessarily view whats cute to the sender the same way. However, one recent email from my sister in Nova Scotia caught my attention. The subject was Dirt Road. My sister enjoys the Internet immensely and apparently draws great satisfaction from these inspiring verses, funny jokes and such. Perhaps she has a better sense of humor than I do - I know she certainly has more time to scan the net. As I viewed her latest find I was struck by its honesty and the message it contained and I immediately recalled that one of my favourite sayings especially in times of frustration is That log cabin 10 miles back in the woods is looking better all the time And of course, it would be a dirt road leading to the cabin. And so I went on an Internet search to try and find out who the author is of this touching words of wisdom I came up empty-handed. But I wanted to share these observations with all of you because I think we really need to get back to basics. To pay more attention to what is important and valuable in life and its not material things. With Christmas drawing close, why not take the time to remember yesteryear and try to recapture some of that delight and innocence the Christmas season provides. Why not focus on friends and family this Christmas and not material things. Let us all go back to the Dirt Road. What's mainly wrong with society today is that too many Dirt Roads have been paved. There's not a problem anywhere today, crime, drugs, education, divorce, delinquency that wouldn't be remedied, if we just had more Dirt Roads, because Dirt Roads give character. People that live at the end of Dirt Roads learn early on that life is a bumpy ride. That it can jar you right down to your teeth sometimes, but it's worth it, if at the end is home...a loving spouse, happy kids and a dog. We wouldn't have near the trouble with our educational system if our kids got their exercise walking a Dirt Road with other kids, from whom they learn how to get along. There was less crime in our streets before they were paved. Criminals didn't walk two dusty miles to rob or rape, if they knew they'd be welcomed by 5 barking dogs. And there were no drive-by shootings. Our values were better when our roads were worse! People did not worship their cars more than their kids, and motorists were more courteous, they didn't tailgate by riding the bumper or the guy in front would choke you with dust & bust your windshield with rocks. Dirt Roads taught patience. Dirt Roads were environmentally friendly; you didn't hop in your car for a quart of milk you walked to the barn for your milk. For your mail, you walked to the mailbox. What if it rained and the Dirt Road got washed out? That was the best part, then you stayed home and had some family time, roasted marshmallows and popped popcorn and pony rode on Daddy's shoulders and learned how to make prettier quilts than anybody. At the end of Dirt Roads, you soon learned that bad words tasted like soap. Most paved roads lead to trouble, Dirt Roads more likely lead to a fishing creek or a swimming hole. At the end of a Dirt Road, the only time we even locked our car was in August, because if we didn't, some neighbor would fill it with too much zucchini. At the end of a Dirt Road, there was always extra springtime income, from when city dudes would get stuck, you'd have to hitch up a team and pull them out. Usually you got a dollar...always you got a new friend...at the end of a Dirt Road! , - FpklRS B*aJ$ph B*phB*OJQJ^JaJ$ph"^ E - plRS$&P1h/ =!"#$% i8@8 NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH <A@< Default Paragraph FontT^@T Normal (Web)dd[$\$B* OJPJQJ^Jph7"^E- p l RS0000000000000000   ""5YZ F F g n QRMOMlC:\Documents and Settings\MOM.MOM-MACHINE\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\AutoRecovery save of Document2.asdMOMD:\articles\dirt road.docMOMD:\.public_html\dirt road.doc@ЙBP@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z ArialI& ??Arial Unicode MS"1hFjFjC x02QHome Sweet HomeMOMMOMOh+'0h  $ 0 <HPX`Home Sweet HomeomeMOMOMOMNormaleMOM2MMicrosoft Word 9.0@@l_{}@l_{}C ՜.+,0 hp  treve Home Sweet Home Title  !"#$%(Root Entry F`@}*1TableWordDocument&SummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8CompObjjObjectPool`@}`@}  FMicrosoft Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q