by Bethers » Fri Sep 12, 2008 2:13 pm
My ancestors weren't from Appalachia - but were from a farming background - and I found it to be very similar to what many of them did/endured. In many, many ways, it was a hard life, but it was also a very structured life, which is also sometimes easier (that's hard to explain). Months, weeks, days, hours and even minutes - people knew pretty much what they would be doing. Kind of like the bible verse where there is a time for every season, a time to sow, etc etc - that's how people ived.
I know for those of us from the city, when we'd visit our relatives still on the farm even only just 40 - 50 years ago, while their life was hard physically, there was a structure that we really missed in our own lives. They ate from their own land entirely - from making their own butter and milking their own cows, to growing their own vegetables and canning, etc. The only meat they ate was from butchering their own animals. I still do envy them the ability to live in a manner that didn't rely on money as we all do. And while there aren't many that do that the same today, there are still some.
Yes, I find it a hard life, but a very rewarding life, that I think we can all learn from. With church and music, they took time to entertain. They talked in the evenings. This book shows us that they weren't perfect, but they didn't run from each other's imperfections, they stayed together and usually made it to the next phase, like Julie and Hank do both when moving when newly married, and moving again at the end of the book. And in the next phase, hopefully they grow together to the next one.
Beth
“Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
"He who treasures the small things in life has found the path to true happiness"