On the Road Again - Adventures from an Empty Nest

Traveling back in time Joe and I met in Eastern Kentucky almost 40 years ago. He was a community organizer, one of the founders of what was to become a statewide citizen’s group – the Kentucky Fair Tax Coalition (KFTC), later renamed Kentuckians For The Commonwealth. I was a reporter at the Appalachian News-Express in Pikeville, and wrote a story about his work helping a local community whose well water was polluted by a coal mining operation. We got to know each other better after the floods of 1984 wiped out the water system in the town of David, where he lived, and he was invited by one of my roommates, a teacher at the David School, to come use our shower whenever he liked. Rosenbergs & Szakoses The first major stop on our journey west was back to the scene of these early meetings – and the beginning of our life together. We had thought we were just going to see our friends John and Jean Rosenberg in Prestonsburg. They had visited us in Charlottesville, and we were eager to see...

Darwin's Great Adventure   D arwin is 17 years old. When people ask what breed he is, we say he’s an American White Fluffy. He’s a no-nonsense guy in a frou-frou dog body.  After what was no doubt a rough puppyhood, followed by time spent in lock-up (the pound in North Carolina), he washed up at my Dad’s house as a young adult and became his constant companion on forest trails and mountain hikes, at Lowe’s, at the tennis court, and on my Dad’s lap. He became a full-time nurse during my Dad’s final illness, and then, still grieving his loss, came to live with us.  He was not particularly happy about the move, and we experienced him as a middle-aged, sort of grumpy, affectionate but needy fellow, jealous of any attention our other dog, Jacob, got from us, and not particularly interested in going out in any but the nicest weather. Then Jacob died, and Darwin, probably 15 by this time, came into his own again. “It’s MY house now!” he seemed to say. Suddenly cheerful and game ...