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November 1940. "Porch light to welcome expected visitors. Pierre, South Dakota." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
I can see George Bailey running past, shouting "Merry Christmas, folks who left the porch light on!"
Nearly 60 years ago I spent two sleepless days and nights and almost another hitchhiking from my base in North Carolina to home in northwest Pennsylvania. I saw lots of scenes like this one along the way. Every one of them choked me up.
I don't remember praying but the guy who picked me up somewhere near Mars told me I was the first hitchhiker he'd picked up since the last one beat him up and left him for dead in 1949. He took me almost all the way to my home from the middle of nowhere.
Just needs a leg lamp in the window.
What Thomas Kinkade could never achieve.
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