CHILDHOOD MEMORY...................

This old log cabin holds some of my early childhood memories. This is the actual house my family live in from 1942 to 1946. The rear portion was added on after we moved. An old hand hug well provided our water needs until it went dry. Lucky for us we had an everlasting spring down in the hollow behind the house. That spring finds an early childhood memory for me that turned out to be a disaster for one young 5 year old.
Daddy had gathered up a couple of water buckets to go fill up down at the spring. Daddy, I want to go with you. No, son it's getting too dark and it's a steep climb down with many sharp rocks. You stay here !! I remember him telling me. Not to be outdone I waited till daddy had gone on his way a few minutes and I began to follow at a distance, Man, was it dark as I climbed down the path. Suddenly my feet flew out from under me and I was tumbling down the steep path. I finally came to a stop with blood gushing from my elbow. Daddy, daddy!! I called out into the night air. Soon daddy was at my side and picked me up and carried me back to the house. Mom was quick to attend to my badly cut elbow with bandages made from an old sheet. They watch me through the night and decided the next morning it was a good idea to take me to the doctor in Lynchburg. Daddy borrowed a neighbor's horse and buggy to take me some 6 miles to the doctor. It was so cool for a little boy of five to get to ride in a horse drawn buggy. We were poor and didn't even own a horse. No neighbors in the small community had cars or trucks. Man, we lived back in the sticks. At the doctors office I got several stitches in my wound under my elbow and still carry that scar. In those early childhood years when I asked if I could do something my daddy would always remind me of my fall. That was enough of a reminder to keep me from doing what I wasn't suppose to do. The old log cabin was torn down and a new modern brick sets near were we lived so many years ago. We once stopped and meet the couple that built the new home. They begin house keeping when they first married and it was they who built the back portion to the house. I guess that was what keep the old house from falling down.