Recently I went to visit a place I have not been in many years. My grandparents farm in Runnels County is set to sell soon and I knew this would be my last opportunity to visit a place that helped to form who I am. My dad and his brothers believed this was their own slice of heaven on earth. That is a credit to the ones who lived in the house and worked the land. The house has not been lived in for many years and is falling down. The feel of the house was that my grandparents simply left to go to town and never returned. While it has been at least 30 years since anyone has lived in the house, the house is dated no less than 50 years beyond that even. Nothing in the house was new thirty years ago. The closets still had clothes hanging, drawers still filled with garments, cabinets still had dishes. It was a bit like walking into a time warp. I kept expecting to see familiar faces seated in familiar furniture. Ghosts of the past I suppose. It is odd how the brain stores memories that aren't accessed and aren't important until something jogs that memory. Seeing a cup that I drank from as a child, the lock on a door, my granddad's ash tray and Prince Albert can. The heater we would all back up to on cold winter days. Books that my dad read to me and my sister at night to get us to sleep. My cousin's name written in Crayon on an old cigar box full of broken colors. But it wasn't what I could see that impacted me alone. The wind was blowing through the trees and was so familiar in its sound. The silence, no roads anywhere close, no people for miles and miles, Silence. Fully expecting to hear the bawl of a lamb looking for its mama, expecting to hear the jokes and laughter of my dad and uncles. I was expecting to hardly be able to see through the living room due to the cigarette smoke from my aunts who chain smoked. But instead, Silence. The sounds remain in my head and heart while the things remain in the house. I wish I would have taken more pictures but things were a bit jumbled up. Maybe this will jog the memories of some cousins or my sister. Truly it was a rare and unusual opportunity, stepping back in time.
