Daily Archives: August 14, 2014

 

I was born February the 9th, in 1946 in Harlan, Kentucky.  My father was the manager of the Coca Cola Bottling plant in Harlan.  It was a magical time for two young boys to live under. Life was an endless adventure, playing with toy soldiers on the rocks in our back yard on Ivy Hill, using playing cards to make our bicycles sound like motorcycles.  Later we shot a sock full of flour with our BB guns, and then went swimming in the water hole, it was a great time. We both graduated from Harlan High School, yes, we were Green Dragons!  My point?  It was a different time.

 

I saw the first episode of Superman on a black and white TV, and waited by the radio every night to hear the Roy Rogers show.   We watched Leave it to Beaver, and Father Knows Best.  Our family had dinner every night together at the kitchen table.  We prayed at bedtime, and we addressed our parents with yes sir, and yes mam.  Dad taught Homer and I how to bait a hook and how to know when we had a bite on our line.  Homer learned better than I did!

 

I know we can’t go back, Harlan is still there, and Homer lives in the house we grew up in, but Mom and Dad are gone, and our grand parents, and our aunts and uncles, and we had a bunch, all gone.  But the memories aren’t, and even though we can’t go back to a simpler time, we can remember that time, and we can be molded by our past.  When I hang out with my brother I can see my father’s kindness, concern, and care.  No, we may not be able to go back, but I can still relive those days with Homer.

 

Thanks Homer, for letting me come back home again,

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim