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One can't describe the feeling of catching a wild West Virginia Trout with a rod you built and a fly you tied.
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Saturday, December 20, 2008
A Christmas Memory
6:49 PM | Posted by
David |
Our minds, at times, are very selective in what they choose to readily retain. I have forgotten most of the algebra I knew or faces I have met along life's journey. So when certain things tend to remain strong year after year, I often wonder why. It's at this time of the year one such memory comes to visit. It's triggered often by a snow fall at dusk. Especially if there are street lights around. It was Christmas Eve, and my father was in the VA hospital in Richmond, Virginia. My mother and brother were making their way across the mountain in a terrible snow storm and were late. I thought, at 17, I'd spend Christmas Eve alone. I worked till close at the store that evening. Close to dusk, it started to snow. I can remember Henry coming to me and telling me to make a feed run to Grandview before it got too bad . He said there were snow flakes as big as a silver dollar. I went down stairs and loaded the feed on the truck, only for Henry to send down word that it was already too bad.
That night as I walked home from work, I made the only tracks down the highway. The tire tracks of the car that just drove by had already filled in. I stopped for a moment in the middle of the road, thinking how warm it was and watching the snow in the light of the street lamp. There have been 59 Christmases...each special in its own way, but this memory is always here this time of the year. I was asked just recently where I'd like to spend Christmas if I could spend it anywhere I wished. Oh, how I'd love to have one more Beaver Christmas to build memories on.
That night as I walked home from work, I made the only tracks down the highway. The tire tracks of the car that just drove by had already filled in. I stopped for a moment in the middle of the road, thinking how warm it was and watching the snow in the light of the street lamp. There have been 59 Christmases...each special in its own way, but this memory is always here this time of the year. I was asked just recently where I'd like to spend Christmas if I could spend it anywhere I wished. Oh, how I'd love to have one more Beaver Christmas to build memories on.
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2 comments:
You have the gift of painting a picture with words, David. I can just see that seventeen year old young man walking home alone in the snow. I hope your Mom and brother made it home in time for Christmas eve that night.
Thank you for sharing West Virginia through your eyes...and I wish you could go back to Beaver for Christmas one more time too...
Dianne
Hi again, I love this little story, I've read it several times before today. It's so atmospheric and makes me feel nostalgic. Will you be updating your blog any time soon? Regards, Kathleen.