Nostalgia Lane (Part 2)

01/21/07
Daddy was a coal miner here in Western Pennsylvania for the better part of his life. I grew up seeing the whites of his eyes when he came home from the mines. When I was maybe five years old he would give my beloved mother a break by taking me with him sometimes when he delivered coal in his coal truck. I can close my eyes and still smell the coal dust, hear that old truck's engine and hear him singing songs to me as the truck lumbered out the country roads. We were always delivering coal to a fictional lady named Mary Windowglass.One day while being busy in the back yard a ball of fur rolled out of the woods and down the hill and Daddy ran for a bucket to put the ball of fur in it. He came to tell my mother, "Hey Annie look what just rolled down the hill!" It was a mistake to show it to me, this tiny baby raccoon we completely fell in love with and who was to become a true and totally wonderful member of the family. We named him Billy. Billy used to wash everything he ate with these delicate paws that felt as though they were lined with black velvet. He knew how to open the cereal and he had the run of the house. We were inseparable! Then when he grew up and wanted a mate he wanted to leave and Daddy built a large cage and Billy became mean and one day escaped back to the deep woods from whence he came.Remembering these prescious childhood days and this second walk down Nostalgia Lane has been a true joy and a wonderful respite from today's daily life.