2022

2022

My mom is 93, and I've been visiting her here in Rocky Mount, North Carolina for the last month. I fly home to the Llano Estacado on Saturday. Back to the desert, where I’ll miss this deep green.

I took a couple of days to do the thing I miss most since moving to the west, so I cut myself a good walking stick and headed out into the woods. And this is a lush forest, full of giant Oaks, Poplars, Cyprus, Hickory, and Holly, all growing in what was once a huge nursery, so there are even some tall, leftover Crepe Myrtle. It is a bath for my soul to walk on spongy ground, and breathe air fresh from the lungs of thick fauna.

One day, about a mile in, I found a place where three creeks come together, and I could no longer hear the traffic on the nearby highway. I marveled at the size of some deer tracks, and studied the delicate finger markings of racoons before I laid down in some ferns to rest my mind, my soul, and my bones awhile.

When I turned back, I walked up the ridge and about an hour later realized I had no idea where I was. AWESOME! The last time I got lost was rabbit hunting when I was about 12. I wandered around for an hour enjoying the whole idea, flummoxed by how I was able to get so confused, while looking in vain for clues. Well, dang, I called my brother Arden and asked if he would go outside and fire his .22 so I could get my bearings. He die...I heard nothing.

When I made it back to the convergence of the creeks, I realized what I had done, and took the left-most ridge, now all three creeks would be on my right. I finally knew I was saved when I began finding discarded plastic pots and other nursery detritus. Oh! And a tiny, foot high, Japanese Maple. I marked the spot with a huge arrow made of fallen branches. It will live out its now highly appreciated life in my Mom’s front yard.

It was a GREAT day.

I've been helping my brother with some remodeling work on the house they own together. Arden has done an amazing amount of work single handedly over the four years he's been at it. Mostly, we pulled up about 30,16' 2x8 deck boards nailed down since 1986. Every single nail was a major challenge, the wood is weathered but well preserved, sometimes we'd spend an hour on a single board in oppressive humidity. There were a couple of days we could only take it long enough to do three of them. He's gonna plane the flip side and screw them back down. When we finished, my back was gone and required surgery a year earlier than I had planned, But that’s just fine ‘cause, you know, family.

Meanwhile, my tiny, elfin mom, wants no help in the kitchen when she cooks something gourmet for supper, crab spaghetti, shrimp and cheesy grits, three sides for Arden’s smoked ribs… There she is, 93 years old, 4’9,” bone-on-bone knees, on a step ladder arms up for something in the cupboard, “I don’t need help, stay outta my way!”

Later, she sang all four verses of “I’m Chiquita Banana, and I’m here to say…”. Before she sleeps, she’ll spend an hour in fervent prayer for everyone in the family and the country, too. I’ll stand my stock up to anyone’s...