Robert Slatt

February – March 2005 When South Ridge Church moved its worship services to the YWCA, something seemed to awaken in everyone. The building wasn’t grand or fancy, but it was full of light and song. The music lifted through the rooms and made even the plain walls seem to glow. The church began to grow…

January – February 2005 My winter vacation to South Carolina was relaxing—a welcome change from the quiet hills of Marion County. The South was congested and metropolitan, full of life and energy, a sharp contrast to the post-industrial stillness of home. It felt good to be surrounded by people and movement again. I got to…

November 2004 – January 2005 After receiving the blue letter, we reached out to the lawyer who had been helping us with the contractor issue to ask how we should proceed. He advised us to speak with someone who specialized in property law, so we scheduled a consultation with an attorney experienced in that area….

November and December 2004 November is one of my favorite months on the farm. The leaves are off the trees, and the wind takes on a different tone when it moves through the woods — low and restless, like it’s speaking to itself. The air hangs damp and heavy, and a calmness settles over everything….

Late Fall 2004 Sometimes moving back home can be an adjustment. After living on my own for so many years, it was difficult to readjust—especially when that “home” was a fifth wheel shared with my parents. The cramped space, the lack of privacy, the constant awareness of each other’s habits—it all added up. When we…

I’ve always loved going to the movies. Sitting in a dark theater, the hush before the previews, the first flicker of light on the screen—it feels like being transported somewhere else entirely. Movies, like books, invite you into worlds shaped by imagination. For a couple of hours, you can step out of your own life…

August 2004 – October 2004 I should start with a history lesson. The farm used to be one piece, owned by a man named Jacob G. Martin. His land stretched all the way to the county road, with a carriage road winding through the hills toward the center of the property, and giving access to…

When Dad and I finished putting in the new heating and cooling system, it felt as though the old farmhouse had drawn its first deep breath in years. Warm air now flowed through its bones in winter and cool air in summer, like the steady heartbeat of a living thing. The upstairs rooms—our master bedroom,…

September – October 2004 Cracker Barrel By the time my wrist finally healed, I was eager to get back on a schedule and earn steady pay again. Outback had been my spot before, so I called, left messages, waited, and called some more. Nothing. No return calls, no explanation. After a while, silence feels like…

Fall 2004 Each morning in the fall of 2004, before the sun climbed too high, I left the farm to head to West Virginia University. It was my first semester there, after transferring from the University of South Carolina. I was thirty years old, a non-traditional student, and though I had chosen this path myself,…