We had a thunderstorm to end all thunderstorms last week. And I’m a girl who grew up in the Midwest, so I know a thing or two about thunderstorms. It was loud, it was bright, it was pretty frightening and, very sadly, the beloved Newton Academy was struck by lightening and completely gutted. Our local volunteer firefighters, aided by firefighters and equipment from about 6 surrounding towns,  battled all night long so that nothing else in town was damaged, but the result was an unsafe shell of a building, right next to our elementary school, and so the final pieces had to be torn down the next day.

Here at The Shoreham Inn we just feel we need to pause and give honor to a fellow piece of the landscape of our small village, now irretrievably lost. The Academy was looking forward to celebrating it’s 200th year this year. The Inn is just a smidgen older and I find myself imagining them new and sparkling 200 years ago. I also keep picturing all the thousands of people who have passed through the doors, made memories, had experiences – and even for those of us with no historical or personal connection to the building, it just seems impossible that it’s not there as you look across the town green.

Without getting too sentimental, it is a reminder to appreciate everything in our lives, especially perhaps the more elderly elements, because while 200 years is a good, long run; it’s easy to get complacent and believe that those things will be with us forever.