In Memory of My Childhood

We just returned from our annual Christmas trip to Deadwood to visit my mother and grandparents. We started out in Shreveport this year with my dad's parents, and we had a nice visit there. Grandmother bought dinner for everyone from a local catfish joint called Shane's. Apparently, she thought that we were going to be more hungry than we were or that we were all bringing friends because she ordered about three times as much food as we could eat. It was good. There was just a lot of it.

Afterward, we drove out to Deadwood. We exchanged gifts with Mother that very evening. You know the kids weren't going to wait even if they had all already fallen asleep in the truck. It was really nice, and each one of the girls made out with a ton of stuff, especially Emma who now has her very own harmonica. Boy, that was a joy to listen to all the way back to Dallas yesterday.

The real surprise of the trip, though, was the change in the scenery. It wasn't really obvious when we drove in at night on Sunday, but on Monday we could tell that there were a fair number of trees missing. "No big deal," I thought. Papa just needed some extra money. I wasn't really seeing the expanse of the cutting yet, though.

Later that day, I had the idea to take the kids for a walk in the woods. The back woods (if you know what I mean). Of course, they immediately asked if we could go to the waterfall, and I agreed. For those that don't know, there are two sets of woods on our property. The front woods is a relatively thin stand of trees separating the road from the houses and yard. There's a little creek that runs through there and it's dammed up into a small pond. There's not much to see there, so we hardly ever go that way. The back woods is on the other end of the property and is a much thicker set of trees with a few trails cut through it. If you go all the way to the back, cross the fence, and know your way through the unmarked woods, you'll find a bigger creek with a large drop off at one point which creates a waterfall into a small pool. It's one of those things that we found as kids when we were out somewhere we weren't supposed to be (you don't really think my mother ever gave us permission to cross the fence do you?). Anyway, I've taken the older girls there before, and they wanted to go again, and Emma was eager to tag along.

Looking from the house, the back woods looks the same as ever, but that's just a façade now. As my kids and I crossed the field toward the woods, the older girls told Emma all about how cool the waterfall would be and how much fun it would be to walk in the woods. Within a few feet of entering the woods, though, the change was evident. What had once been a foot path is now widened for lumber trucks and heavy machinery, and where there had once been woods, there is now a field of debris with a few select trees still standing. The ground is covered in broken limbs and tree stumps, and from a short distance into the woods, we could clearly see to the fence lines in front of us and to our side. Previously, you could have walked to these fences and not seen them until you felt the prick of the barbed wire. Now, you can see to the fence line, but the fence is down in several areas to allow trucks to pass and in places where trees have fallen across.

Continuing back toward the creek, we found it easy to cross the fence (once I figured out where) since a tree had taken out a section, and we noticed that we could clearly see the old deer stand in the corner of the property. The kids had never even seen it before, so with no trees between us, it was a new sight for them. Immediately, we noticed that trees had not only come from our land, though. We could clearly see all the way to the creek; a good 100 yards in front of us.

Moving toward the creek, we picked our way through the brush and debris until we reached the banks. The water was still flowing; a good sign. We turned to our right to go back upstream to the waterfall. Things looked promising. We were almost back into woods that I was familiar with. Trees that I have marked my way for years were still standing, but as we approached the location of the waterfall, things were all wrong again. There was a huge clearing, tons of fallen trees, and no waterfall. No pool of water. Nothing. I couldn't even see where the waterfall used to be. It was completely covered in debris. The creek was running underneath it all, so I had to keep the kids back. I didn't know what parts were laying on land and what parts where laying across the ravine.

Ultimately, we had to just turn around. There was no waterfall. There really wasn't even much in the way of woods anymore. The kids still had fun, and so did I. But I have to tell you that it feels like a part of my childhood is buried under that debris somewhere out behind Mom's, and I wish I could have found it, just to know that it's really still there.