the brogden road runs through eastern north carolina past fields where tobacco once grew. now it’s mostly soybeans.
our family has lived on or near this land since the 1760’s.
this year my folks won a legal battle restoring their right to maintain this 19th century family plot. work will start in the spring. right now it looks a little ragged. my great-grandmother’s tombstone is about 20 feet off the road. she was zillah whitley sanders. my middle name is sanders.
the family plot is about a hundred yards from sanders chapel.
across the road from where mom lives now is the little house where she was born. her mother and grandmother were born in the house next door.
the house belongs to distant cousins. it’s been abandoned for a decade or more.
it looks better in the painting that hangs in mom’s kitchen.
tobacco barns still stand out behind mom and dad’s house.
so does this red one. they have plenty of barns.
the brick path leading up to the front porch.
as far back as i can remember mom has taken a big basket out into the garden, woods, and fields to forage for holiday greenery.
it’s going to be pretty on thanksgiving, so we’ll have a bar out on the porch.
mom and dad bought apples up in the mountains, $7.50 for a fifty pound bag.
while mom carries pillows out to the guest house. . .
. . . dad, who’s 89, leans up against his 1989 dodge ram truck.
that’s all around the house. next time we’ll take a look inside.