What Happened?

“The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts.” – James Joyce

How often have you driven down the road, seen something, and asked yourself, “what happened?” I think we have all done this before. I drive to and from Uptown Charlotte every day, and most days I usually see something, and I ask myself, “what happened?” It might be an accident on the interstate, a car fire, a group of people appearing to head to a celebration, or any random event I noticed while driving to and from work. Depending on what it is, I might check the news, search social media, or drive slowly and take pictures. My goal is just to see what happened.

Last summer, the family and I went on vacation near Bryson City, North Carolina near the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We spent the day in Cherokee, went river tubing, had coffee and dessert in Bryson City, and just spent a week hanging out with each other as a family. While we were driving back and forth to our campground, we noticed this run-down house on the side of the road. On our last afternoon there, I took a short hike up the side of the road in order to take photos of it. The entire time I kept asking myself, what happened here? I wonder what caused the people who were living here before to just move in and allow the house to fall apart. I will probably never know, unless someone comments who has heard the whole story before.

What do you think happened here? Share your thoughts in the comments.