Flooding Memories and Holding On

It had to be said. It was important that I documented my memoir. My love of my childhood home was worthy to be noted and the evidence was slipping away.

First, the demand for coal was decreasing. Then the destructive weather caused flooding on three separate occasions. The floods and the economic decline gave reason to families for moving away.

Gathering Memories

Many years had passed, and I needed to visit the place of my childhood and gather and re-live the memories. Two road trips took us there and I savored every moment, every memory as I stood on that mountainside once again. Standing where the steps to the porch once were, the thoughts began to write a snippet of my memories and one day, in the early morning quiet, I began to write:

A picture of a small girl sitting beside the porch steps, in the yard that was sparsely covered with the green crab grass over a rocky surface. And embedded with slack from the coal that was carried in for the heating and cook stoves. It didn't matter that the wooden walkway led straight to the steps and risked an intrusion on her private dreams. It was easy to shut off everything around her while she drew her pictures in the frame of her fantasies.

She drew aside, just to sit there, quietly engrossed with the wish book known as a Sears, Roebuck catalog. Thumbing through the slick pages with photos of finely dressed brides in flowing lengths of white lace, and formal and colorful dresses for special occasions became a magical event. Even the casual attire of pedal pushers and sleeveless blouses had a sophistication that impressed her young mind=---

More writings are available on my endearingappalachia.com Blog posts and my Memoir is available for order by clicking on the book's page.