I miss the horses

I drove down a road I haven't traveled in some time. It's changed. I remember the first time I drove down this road. Bear with me.

I graduated from high school and worked for the State Highway Department that first summer. In the fall, I enrolled in a community college in Birmingham.

The first semester was sad. I was around new people. Until then, I led a fairly sheltered life. But in college, there was a lot of cool kids from all over. I spent more time on "fitting in" that I spent on studies. My grades in December were less than stellar. They were closer to the cellar.

I was the first in our family to attend college. My folks took a sharp pencil to their finances to pay for tuition and books. But they were ahead of their time with the philosophy, "No Pass, No Pay."

There was a hard lesson there. If I wanted to stay in school, I'd need a job

There was a guy in my sociology class that friended me up. He worked at a manufacturing plant nearby. He put in a good word for me, and within a few weeks, I was a janitor. My starting salary was $2.45 an hour. I reported for duty at 11:00 p.m. My first class the next morning was at 8:00 a.m.

To say I struggled is an understatement. But since I was footing the bill for tuition and books, I struggled and passed by the skin of my teeth. It was a learning experience.

The road that I drove for those two years, was the same road I drove down today. There was a section of that road that was my favorite. The asphalt dissected a beautiful ranch. Cows and horses grazed near a split rail fence that bordered the road on both sides. The ranch extended all the way to the Locust Fork River.

But beneath the land was a seam of Black Creek coal. Anthracite coal almost as hard a diamond. Black gold.

I'm guessing the landowner got tired of chasing cows because he sold that land. Soon draglines and dynamite turned paradise into a moonscape. Mountains of slate rock the color of a kindergarten blackboard. Nothing grew there but scrub pine and cottonwood.

Today when I drove down that road, I saw something I didn't expect.  A tiny stretch of beauty. Queen Ann's Lace by the side of the road was enough to make me turn my head.

I pulled to the curb, put my emergency flashers on, and stepped back to take a few pictures. The wind was ripping so it was difficult to get a picture that was in focus.

I smiled as I stepped back to the truck. That was beautiful...but I miss the horses.