shouldazagged
Absent Comrade
I miss my ancient mountains, so old the Rockies are rowdy teenagers by comparison.
I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1937. As a boy, into my early teens, I spent summers with relatives all over the eastern part of the state. I ripped and ran all over the Tennessee and North Carolina Smokies.
In 1941 my parents moved my baby brother and me to Louisville when Dad took a job with the Courier-Journal newspaper here. But my mother and brother and I still went back to Tennessee every summer; and while Dad was overseas in 1943-44 as a war correspondent, we moved in with my maternal grandparents in Chattanooga till he returned.
Since then I've lived in or within seventy miles of Louisville. My children were born here and adopted by my first wife and me when they were infants. I've had two careers and a series of later jobs just to have benefits. I retired for medical reasons a month short of my seventy-first birthday.
I had two more marriages after the first one broke up or broke down. The second was brief and volatile, as I was working on drinking myself to oblivion. The third, the love of my life and one of the finest human beings I've ever known, died twenty-two years ago. I've lived alone ever since.
I like this city a lot. It offers a lot of cultural amenities, including an internationally-known festival of new plays and an orchestra known all over the world for its recording of new composers' works. It has wonderful restaurants, most of which I can't afford, and has been voted one of the best cities in the South for foodies. Our principal university dates to 1790, and has a solid academic reputation. This is a hub city for medical research.
I sobered up here thirty-seven years ago.
I love Kentucky. It's one of the most gun-friendly states in the Union. Its people tend to be warm, friendly and generous. In the eastern part of the state the people are much like my Tennessee friends and relatives. We have tremendous fishing and hunting opportunities, of which I can no longer avail myself--but they are here.
Now my parents, my beloved wife, and my younger brother are all dead. My children live outside Rockford, Illinois, and in Philadelphia. My much younger sister and a niece and nephew are my only relatives here, but I have some wonderful friends.
I've had a turbulent but mostly satisfying life here. My health has gone to hell, and I'm no longer physically or financially able to travel. I've given up driving. So it's a good thing my adopted city and state are home.
But I miss my ancient mountains.
I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1937. As a boy, into my early teens, I spent summers with relatives all over the eastern part of the state. I ripped and ran all over the Tennessee and North Carolina Smokies.
In 1941 my parents moved my baby brother and me to Louisville when Dad took a job with the Courier-Journal newspaper here. But my mother and brother and I still went back to Tennessee every summer; and while Dad was overseas in 1943-44 as a war correspondent, we moved in with my maternal grandparents in Chattanooga till he returned.
Since then I've lived in or within seventy miles of Louisville. My children were born here and adopted by my first wife and me when they were infants. I've had two careers and a series of later jobs just to have benefits. I retired for medical reasons a month short of my seventy-first birthday.
I had two more marriages after the first one broke up or broke down. The second was brief and volatile, as I was working on drinking myself to oblivion. The third, the love of my life and one of the finest human beings I've ever known, died twenty-two years ago. I've lived alone ever since.
I like this city a lot. It offers a lot of cultural amenities, including an internationally-known festival of new plays and an orchestra known all over the world for its recording of new composers' works. It has wonderful restaurants, most of which I can't afford, and has been voted one of the best cities in the South for foodies. Our principal university dates to 1790, and has a solid academic reputation. This is a hub city for medical research.
I sobered up here thirty-seven years ago.
I love Kentucky. It's one of the most gun-friendly states in the Union. Its people tend to be warm, friendly and generous. In the eastern part of the state the people are much like my Tennessee friends and relatives. We have tremendous fishing and hunting opportunities, of which I can no longer avail myself--but they are here.
Now my parents, my beloved wife, and my younger brother are all dead. My children live outside Rockford, Illinois, and in Philadelphia. My much younger sister and a niece and nephew are my only relatives here, but I have some wonderful friends.
I've had a turbulent but mostly satisfying life here. My health has gone to hell, and I'm no longer physically or financially able to travel. I've given up driving. So it's a good thing my adopted city and state are home.
But I miss my ancient mountains.
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