I found this house while going on a special drive a couple of weeks ago for the first anniversary of my father’s death. I wanted to do something meaningful to celebrate our relationship together. I took the smaller urn I keep on my bedside table and I went for a long drive.

I listened to music he would have liked and songs that reminded me of him as the first rays of sunlight swept over the hills behind me.

I stopped often, shooting pictures of the sunrise through the trees, while the raspy voices wailed from my speakers.

Turkeys hustled across the road through the dust my tires kicked up.

A splintered house of boarded windows and jagged glass sat empty and forlorn on the side of a busy road.

I felt like it was placed in my path or I in its path, and I wondered how many people rushed by it every day on their way to work without giving it a single thought.

“Absence is a house so vast that inside you will pass through its walls and hang pictures on the air.”
―Pablo Neruda

I returned home with a sense of peace. I know my father isn’t gone, not really, which makes me wonder who still lingers to keep watch over this old house?

When I look at the photographs of this house I will think of my dad. I’ll remember the good times.

Trish Eklund is the owner and creator of Abandoned, Forgotten, & Decayed, and Family Fusion Community, an online resource for blended families of all types. Trish’s photography has been featured on Only in Nebraska, ListVerse, Nature Takes Over and Pocket Abandoned. Check out the new Bonanza Store for AFD merchandise! Follow on Instagram and Facebook. Trish is regularly featured on The Mighty,  Huffington Post Divorce, and Her View From Home.  She has also been featured on Making Midlife Matter, and The Five Moms, and has an essay in the anthology, Hey, Who’s In My House? Stepkids Speak Out by Erin Mantz.

Categories: Abandoned House, NE, Nebraska, Nebraska Abandoned House, Trish EklundTags: Abandoned House in Bennington, Abandoned Nebraska, NE, Trish Eklund