Last August the small town of Pateros, Washington, fell victim to the Carlton Complex wildfire and was nearly destroyed by the holocaust. Last weekend we attended a family function upriver and stayed two nights in Pateros. The first night we ordered pizza at the Sweet River Bakery, a small, but bustling gathering place for the locals and tourists passing through.
Adjacent to the winding little sidewalk leading to the bakery’s backdoor stood a lone stalk of blooming lilac that spoke to me as a symbol of a small town’s resiliency, a hardscrabble, tough little community, dusting itself off after adversity, rising to bloom again. In that hardy little stalk presenting but two or three leaves and a half dozen blossoming clusters, I saw the tenacity of life, the never ending triumph of faith and hope, the courage not only to survive, but prevail….
(photo credit: Marika Finkel)
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