One of the houses I lived in when I was young backed up to a (usually) dry creek bed with train tracks on the other side. When we first moved in those trains were LOUD!!!! And then we got used to them and barely heard them at all. All the neighborhood kids loved to play army in the dry creek bed and we also LOVED to watch the trains go by. We'd count the cars and wave to the engineers - or the passengers - when the rare Amtrak train went by.
Of course, we were all under strict orders to never ever ever go near the tracks or cross the creek bed. Not only because of the danger of the trains - but also because the heavily wooded area behind it contained . . . HOBOS!!!!!
Ok - so clearly - in my 7-10 year old experience - hobo's looked like the picture above. Right?!?!?! Such mystery surrounded these never-seen hobos. Where did they live? What did they eat? Where did they get the red handkerchiefs to tie on the end of their sticks? And what was in there anyway? Why would they walk around so much if they lived back behind the train tracks? Clearly it was perplexing. From time to time we would all wonder about the hobos - and then luckily turn back to our play without ever really devising a full plan on how to scout out a hobo.
Now being much older - I have an entirely different concept of hobos - I don't want to know what they carry around - and frankly - am incredibly grateful we never sought out hobo-ville - which we were sure was just around the bend.
The ironic thing is - I told my children the above tale regarding the hobos long ago - in a moment of car travel entertainment desperation. Unfortunately my grandiose descriptions have only served to build up the romantic hobo depiction even further. Now EVERY conversation we have can somehow end up relating to hobos! Never in my life did I imagine so many questions or such fascination could surround the aforementioned demographic. OH MY GOSH!!!!! If I hear a hobo question one more time - I may go MAD!!!!!!! (I should mention - it is debatable at times that I may already be there!) heh heh heh But seriously!!!! Every conversation! I kid not!
I'm willing to guess that prior to this post - the word hobo had not crossed your mind in perhaps years. I am here to solemnly profess to you - that I hear the word hobo several times a day. Everywhere we go - everything we do. Hobo hobo hobo hobo! Filtering in and out of my sleep now! Oh save me from the hobos! :o)
May you have a hobo-free day!
(Disclaimer: I love my kids - they constantly crack me up!!!! And I hope their kids like hobos too!)
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Oh my goodness. I can hear you in my head telling me this story! LOL! It cracks me up. Aren't kids the strangest, cutest little things?!
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