Snow on snow

Nostalgia File

“Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.”

Doug Larson

It's snowing in the Deep South today—something that happens only randomly, and never lasts very long. We have to run outside and snap photos so we'll remember what the world looks like all white and fluffy. There's something about snow that takes me back to childhood, when we had winter-long snow and ice in the mountains of western North Carolina. Girls had to wear dresses to school in those days, so we froze our fannies off. It should not surprise you, therefore, that I do not love snow—but it does cause me to wax nostalgic. So it was serendipitous that I received this very morning from my cousin, Sandy, a Facebook link to a Public Library newspaper photo file from my hometown.

This town had a rather storied history as the home of Senator Sam Ervin, Chair of the Watergate Committee in the 1970's, as well as several other politically connected families. The photos are sweetly nostalgic in nature, because I'm sure the local paper wanted to project a positive image of the town. And it is pretty, I must say. City Hall has done an excellent job of sprucing up the downtown, and keeping it alive with concerts and craft fairs in the historic courthouse square. It has good sports teams, good schools and today is like other mountain towns, a bit of an artist mecca.

I guess my “nostalgia file” is a little bit worn down, however, since I remember my little hometown differently. When I was growing up, it was highly segregated. As I told a black friend of mine recently, in that town there was only one movie theater, and it had an outside stair for black families to enter the balcony. There were separate water fountains and bathrooms, and the schools did not integrate until my senior year, 1964, and then with only two black students. I also remember that one of those politically connected men, who at the time was Chairman of the State Democratic Party, and married to a local mill-owner's daughter, was discovered to have a second wife and family up in Virginia! Oh, yes, sexual impropriety isn't the sole purview of modern America. The difference may be that he went to prison for that particular offense. Ah, those were the good old days!

Franklin Pierce Adams noted: “Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory.” There were good things about growing up in a small town. I sometimes miss the accessibility and familiarity of it. I like to go back there now and reconnoiter. And it will always feel like home—with the mountains surrounding it and my cousins close by. I'm glad the people who love white Christmases are getting their jollies this morning. Happiness is good for the soul. As for me, I'll watch the snow from inside my warm house, and wax nostalgic for the good-old/bad-old days.

                                                        In the Spirit,

                                                            Jane