It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  This one is a look into the future.  It was made by my GrandBonnie with her little Brownie Kodak in 1963 in her yard in Cross Plains, Tennessee.  No one is standing close enough to touch anyone else even my youngest brother, Clay is trying to find his mother.  My mother’s fingers touch his hair.  He is her child.  My brother, Dale standing with his hands to his sides like an obedient soldier is protected by my father.  It is best not to move and to smile for grandmother. Of course , I stand on the end of the line with flowers in my hand.  I am the one that clings to nature.

In 1986, My brother, Clay was murdered in the streets of Nashville.  He was twenty six years old.  It was an honorable cause: to rescue and protect a damsel from her ex-husband.

My mother died in Jan 2012 from a heart attack.  I think it was more a ” broken heart.”  In my family people buried their worries, their feelings and when my brother passed my mother’s persona changed to that of an addicted gambler.  She spent her days of sorrow at ” Kentucky Downs” an appropriate name.

My father died Nov 2014 from lung cancer.  He chewed on cigars when he was upset.  I inherited his car.  The auto repair man said, ” This car was driven by an angry man.  The pressure to the brake pads is worn out.”

My brother, Dale has had heart attacks, heart surgery and now self-medicates with whatever he can smoke or swallow.  He has inherited the farm and can now change the sign in the front yard,”  Harold Covington and Sons.”  I passed the other day.  The sign is rusted and faded.  It still says the same thing, ” Greenwood Farm.”  Nothing is living there so I doubt the green.

Today I am sixty two.  I have a husband that works in North Dakota.  I live in Nashville. My two children have chosen their own pathways-the opposite direction of mine.  I cling to nature and smile.

I ask that you drag out of the shoe boxes and the albums old pictures of your family.  Maybe you will see something you have never been aware of.