It’s sometimes awfully hard to accept. It sure isn’t pretty and it’s not something I can say that I will ever fully embrace. They say it is inevitable so we will never be able stop it. A part of me is fading away with each passing day as I am experiencing the vanishing way of life in Bandera.
One of the biggest lies every told was that men don’t cry. Over my lifespan I have had my share of tragedies causing the tears to flow. The passing of loved ones is something that remains forever and will cause weeping with nothing more than a passing thought. As people and places disappear our way of life is being diminished.
There is a huge pecan tree along the river where my wife and I used to park as teenagers while we were falling in love and planning our future. I don’t recall any of that planning reaching beyond the town of Bandera.
At times life did indeed take us out of sight of our hometown. The pecan tree has survived many floods that were unable to wash it away and the close connection I have with it.
Over the years I had reason to visit that spot in search of answers. More recently I have searched for comfort. The solitude found along our river has always been a way of life for Bandera folks.
As kids roaming the gravel streets in Bandera we were picking up discarded beer and soda bottles while ignoring the tin can containers because the return for deposit was part of our way of life back in the day.
Aluminum cans would later introduce recycling to help with a positive change and it continues today.
During the later stages of my life I have picked up litter by walking and carrying a bag or bucket but there was no longer any reward connected to the effort other than a sense of giving back.
My most recent version of a litter control way of life is riding in my golf cart with my son as co-pilot and picker stick operator who separates the recyclable materials.
Long gone are the way of life days when we didn’t lock our house or car. Neighbors were likely to step in if they observed anything that looked suspicious. Today a person might incur the wrath of the neighbor for being a busybody in such a situation.
So many strangers are moving in and have no interest in continuing the old ways of life in Bandera. Having new neighbors who will ignore your friendly greetings in passing is an indication that the times are a changin’.
Now we have city hall getting involved more and more with all aspects of our way of life concerning our private property.
As I continue Growing Up In Bandera I have to wonder where we are headed. Our way of life is being controlled by folks who don’t have a clue about what a great place Bandera was before they arrived but have decided they need to fix it!!!
