Goldie and I used to walk a much longer route around Stagecoach Road and back home by Center Street, but in the heat of the summer sun Goldie (Ahem) got way too hot and we had to stop half way round for (her) to catch her breath. Now we walk a much more civilized route to the Post Office and back, plus we get to see what’s in the mail!
What reminded me of the old route was seeing a sign at the corner of Cockerham and Porter streets telling us that a real estate development was “coming soon.” They had bulldozed that tract some two years ago and didn’t finish it, leaving the trees all twisted and forlorn.
My mother-in-law, Frances Sledge, sold about 20 acres behind the library to a developer about 15 years ago. And on our walks by Stagecoach Road, we’d see yard signs that read, “Developers Don’t Live Here…We do.” My wife asked me what they meant and I guessed it had to do with, well, Kyle is growing and all these new people have to find places to live and there’s just not enough existing homes to house them all, so many more homes must be built. And anyone who’s doing that doesn’t have the best interests of the community at heart. They must therefore be heartless developers.
Nothing had been done with that land until recently. Now that land has been cleared and laid out for a subdivision, complete with four model homes already built. Then it hit me. Those signs about “Developers Don’t Live Here…” weren’t directed at the developer. They were directed at us! I told my theory to my sister-in-law, Louann Sledge, and she said that wasn’t necessarily true, and basically, I think she’s right.
But really, I think I might have a point. Without our cooperation with the developers that quiet piece of land wouldn’t have erupted into blocked roads, loud machines, and increased traffic. Frances passed away about 10 years ago and with the sale of that land she was able to give her two children a wonderful legacy, part of which we used to fix up the old home that returned it to the gracious lady it was when it was built in 1912.
As for those who are upset by the increasing presence of developers creating houses for all the new people moving in, at least the new people won’t have to pitch a tent on the sign carrier’s property!
