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Four States: Chapter Eleven – Settling In
April 2004 – August 2004 By mid-spring the weather had softened, and I liked to think I carried some of that South Carolina warmth with me. One of the first things I did was transfer my license and registration to West Virginia so I could vote in the upcoming primary election. Normally, I procrastinated on…
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Four States: Chapter Twelve – The Neighbor
April 2004 – July 2004 When I moved up to the farm, two things stood out right away. The first was the absence of the trees in front of the farmhouse. One had been a pine, the other an oak. They’d stood there for as long as I could remember, providing shade to the porch…
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Four States: Chapter Thirteen – The Blackberry Incident
July 2004 The drive back to West Virginia was quiet in a way it had never been before. Usually our road trips were lively—music blasting from the stereo as we cycled through The Best of the Guess Who, The Best of Bread, and Bob Seger’s Greatest Hits. Seger was always the most fun. His songs…
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Four States: Chapter Fourteen – Rides to College
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,…
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Four States: Chapter Fifteen – Serving Tables, Studying Nations, South Ridge Church
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…
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Four States: Chapter Sixteen – Death Be Not Proud
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,…
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Four States: Chapter Seventeen – The Right Of Way
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…
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Four States: Chapter Eighteen – At the Movies!
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…
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Four States: Chapter Nineteen – The Argument
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…
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Four States: Chapter Twenty – Miles To Go Before I Sleep
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.…