The years of abandonment can crumble the structures of our pasts but they can't erase the memories. I can still hear Nola laughing in the kitchen and smell the aromas of breakfasts and dinners cooking during my summer visits to "the homestead". The party-line telephone, the screened "sleeping porch" and the screen door that led from the room I slept in when I visited and overlooked the rows of tobacco growing in the fields, and of course the modern indoor bathroom that was the topic of envy in all the area, are all parts of my memory that will always bring warm feelings of summer days spent with relatives.
My memories are as fresh as if it were only yesterday. The fish pond, instead of cracked concrete, filled with weeds and debris, is still filled with lily pads and 5" long Koi. It is as beautiful today as it was 50 years ago....in my memories.
I can still hear the popcorn popping and see it scattering on the ground as Porter would build a small fire and throw the ears of popping corn into the flames in this field near the barn. We would grab the popped kernals and pop them in our mouths. Then later after dark, we would run the fields catching lightning bugs.
The old tractor sat here on the side drive to the barn.
