Growing pains

Plenty of us are torn up that Main Street is torn up.

The approximately mile-long project is a needed one, though. Enhanced safety features, smoother surfaces and ADA-compliant sidewalks will make downtown a better place for residents and visitors, especially those using strollers, delivery dollies, wheelchairs, canes or any other assisted-walking devices. Traveling down Main Street – specifically on foot – will be much improved.

But oh the pain of getting there.

Businesses, many of which rely on summer tourists, are tough to get to this week. Dining out means finding different routes to restaurants. Going to the post office means using an alternate entrance. Doing your banking means forgoing the drive-thru for a while. Even The Ledger is getting creative about office access. And let’s not even get started on the parking hassles.

Is the construction inconvenient? It is. Will it test our patience? It will. Are we likely to complain about the interruption? We are. On Monday I walked Main Street and it was like a ghost town except for the one-lane traffic backed up for blocks. We don’t like disorder, nuisances or disruptions to our trips to town; we want to eat, shop, visit and conduct our business with minimal aggravation. But what if we saw the construction for what it is: growth?

A friend of mine has been trying to erect a privacy fence on her property for nearly four months. The project has been delayed because of spring rains, angry neighbors, questionable property lines, busy surveyors and a host of other frustrations. After a recent week of skid loader and chainsaw work to remove brush, the yard is in disarray, mud is everywhere, and the grass has been ripped up. Conditions are getting worse before they get better. But what is the reward of a good fence? Good neighbors.

Consider the act of building muscle. During exercise, muscle fibers are damaged and torn. What’s the reward? The body repairs and replaces those fibers, which are thicker and more numerous than before. Or look at childbirth, a nine-month process of growth and change that culminates in pain. What’s the result? New life.

In all of these circumstances, the friend, the bodybuilder and the mother know things will be tougher before they become easier. Ultimately, though, all three acknowledge that the end is worth the work it took to get there.

We’ll feel the same. Thompson Falls will endure the pain of this construction but be thankful in the end. Businesses will find innovative ways to remain open, visitors will still see the beauty of our town amid our mess, and residents will navigate the road work until it’s complete. The many hours the construction workers put in, the slow lines of traffic and the disruption to our routine trips to town will all fade, and we’ll have our reward.

Growing pains are inevitable. Let’s be patient through them, knowing what’s at the end: growth and change.

— Annie Wooden