“I preferred to plow without wearing shoes, and I remember vividly the caress of the soft, damp, and cool freshly turned earth on my feet.” On growing up on a farm. Carter Presidential Library
I didn’t grow up on a farm but grew up running in the grass like a wild child and spent plenty of years visiting the South, particularly Appalachian Kentucky, where my siblings, cousins, and I climbed mountains, explored wildflower meadows, and played in creeks, investigating all the fish and crawdads. Dad used to tease me I was always barefoot. That kinda stopped one of the last times I was in eastern Kentucky in Daniel Boone National Park (2012), camping with my family on a road trip back to the old places. Mom and I were drinking some wine on the porch of the cabin we rented one night. We saw some weird light in the yard, and everything else was black night. I had to go investigate, of course barefoot, and ended up with chiggers on both feet, making me itch more than ever for two weeks on.
Anyway, I miss that soft, damp, and cool freshly turned earth on my feet.
Jimmy Carter died today. I admired him all my life. He was truly the rock & roll president, friends with people like Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and Gregg Allman (the latter proof of lack of biased politics). For most of his 100 years of life—only a president during one term of his life—he did so much good work for peace, well-being for people around the world, and he had a truly unique, caring outlook that reminds me only of one other person I knew in my life, and that was Dad. In fact, Dad and I heard him speak once.
It’s been kind of a hard month. Before Jimmy, my cousin’s husband died a few days before Christmas, and a day later, my aunt (Mom’s only remaining sister) died, and Mom had a really hard time processing that. I poured one out for my relatives and one for Jimmy C. tonight. I couldn’t find the right way to honor that man’s life other than, you know, just keeping that spirit going in the modern times. It’s hard to find politicians who seem to really care anymore. Just down-to-earth people. I hope the ceremonies of his life overtake any upcoming political weirdness, which there will be, guaranteed. Poured one out for Jimmy on the snow by the bay window out front and then went out back with a glass of red wine and hung out watching the foggy night yard full of snow and bare trees I could barely see due to the mist out there.
The featured image is by Commonwealth Club from San Francisco, San Jose, United States, CC BY 2.0