I grew up in Wyoming County, West Virginia In the 50's and early 60's. Although I left there while still a teenager, those West Virginia hills will always be the "home of my heart." I know.... I know that phrase sounds backward, but I meant it just like I said it.
I love those mountains I roamed as a young girl with a book in my hand, looking for a tree to plant myself under. I could spend hours sitting on a moss covered rock or leaning against a tree, while getting to know Nancy Drew or Tom and Huck and Becky. And sometimes I just roamed ......picking pawpaws or blackberries and eating my fill as I went. Picking the wildflowers that were abundant in the summer was another pleasure. Sometimes I came home with armloads of daisies and queen ann's lace and wild honeysuckle and presented them to my mother.
I attended Itmann Grade School at Itmann and Ben Dunman JR High and Mullens High School in Mullens. I was the oldest of 6 kids and a coal miner's daughter. My dad worked hard to provide for the needs of his family and my mother worked just as hard to keep us fed and clean of heart as well as body.
We had many good neighbors and friends there. The McCoys, the McClains, the Mitchums, the Marshes, the Aldridges and the Simpsons to name a few. Among these families, I found my very first BEST friend and my first love and had my first kiss.
My thoughts wander back to those West Virginia mountains often and when they do I can almost smell the wild honeysuckle and hear the birds singing and the wind in the trees. I can close my eyes and once again, I am lying under a tree or on a moss covered cliff chewing on a birch twig and basking in the solitude while reading Carlotte Bronte or Mark Twain or Dickens. |
