KY to NC to DC to VA to TN

Yes, the title of the post is really all of places I have been in the past week (though VA should really appear at least once more than it does). Asheville, NC was, as always, quite an experience. For those of you who have never been to Asheville, it is a beautiful little city nestled into the Blue Ridge mountains and populated mostly by hippies, punks and vegetarians with a smattering of southern baptists. It is the most vegetarian friendly city in the country and is every bit as interesting as it sounds. From Asheville I drove to DC, a seven hour drive that, due to many calamities on the highway took over ten and a half hours. Once in DC, I spent time with friends and attended a truly beautiful wedding. Next, my adventures took me to Morgan County, TN, and it is the recounting of this trip that will consume the bulk of my email. Though I had to drive through about three hours of solid hail to get there, my trip to TN was entirely worth it.

Sunbright, TN is the small town of 600 in which I spent just over eight weeks last summer while working for Appalachia Service Project. This summer, I was determined to return to Sunbright and visit some of the families whom we had worked for last summer. I started out my day searching for the woman I had grown closest to, R**a, but found that the flea market she had worked at was closed. While wending my way back towards her house to see if she was at home, I stopped by the house of D**a, another woman we had worked for. This was, perhaps, a little rash of me. Though I dearly wanted to visit D**a, I had entirely forgotten her ardour for sharing bad news and complaining. I left D**a's house an hour and half later thoroughly depressed about the state of the world. D**a herself had cancer and had lost 80 pounds since I had last seen her. Her family was still driving her up the wall, including a nephew and his wife whom we had also worked for. This nephew and his wife, were still in and out of jail, on drugs, and making their children's lives very difficult to say the least. Another family we had worked for, she shared with me, had torn apart their trailer and removed the wiring to sell for drugs. This electrical wiring, l would like to note, was very near to my heart as its installation was the cause of my bleached and damaged hair (too long a story to recount for those who have not yet heard it). The mother of the girls who had torn apart their trailer had been burgled for her pain medication and raped. Thankfully, Della ran out of bad news and I was able to escape comforted at least by the knowledge that she had reuinited with her first ex-husband after finalizing her divorce with the second and that he was supporting her in her battle with cancer.

I made my way over to R**a's house, surprised by how well I was able to navigate all the twisting and unmarked mountain roads without getting lost. When I arrived, however, I saw that her pick-up truck was not outside, but her husband was standing in the doorway. All year long I have worried about R**a, her husband and their grandson. Though a volunteer and myself had written several letters, we had heard nothing, and I feared the worst. R**a had asked ASP to come work on her home in order to make it safer for their three-year old grandson, who lived with them two weeks out of every month. They hoped to get full custody of him to remove him from the dangerous situation he was in with his mother and her boyfriend, both of whom were on drugs and often left him with other friends. The boyfriend often physically and verbally abused the child leaving marks on his body and teaching him to use foul and hateful language at such a young age. I approached the door of the house slowly and greeted R**a's husband, who, to my amazement, began chatting with me comfortably. I spoke with him for nearly half an hour, which was a miracle to me. I had heard him say maybe ten words in the eight weeks I knew him. He had always been depressed and nearly silent, but he stood now in front of me as talkative as anything. I quickly learned that everything on their farm had been going great. They had finally gained full custody of their grandson just a few weeks prior, after months of his mother's absence. She had arrived in court high on drugs and had been arrested on the spot. Hysterical, she told the judge that R**a's home was unfit for a child: they had too many animals, lacked electricity and running water and their floors were falling in. A social worker was sent that day to inspect the home and found, luckily, that all these problems had been repaired and, far from having an unhealthy number of animals, the farm was an excellent environment for a young boy to learn how to responsibly care for livestock. After the judge made his final decision, the child went in to thank him for what he had done. This child, you must understand, is one of the most perfect looking children I have ever seen, just like one of the cherubs out of Victorian cards and scrapbooks. His curly blonde hair and wide blue eyes stand in solid defiance against the pain he has experienced in just a few short years. I left R**a's house still missing her, but with a renewed faith in ASP's mission and, truly, in God. God, you see, had broght Rhonda and I together most unexpectedly in a gas station, and as I and the rest of my staff had been a beacon of hope for her, she had been a solid support for me throughout a summer during which many situations seemed almost hopeless. I was finally able to track fown Rhonda later in the evening and visit with her for a couple of hours.

After leaving R**a's, I went to see yet another woman we had worked for, C****. C**** remained relatively unchanged. Her hair was a little longer, and her pets had multiplied, but she was otherwise the same colorful and outgoing woman as she was when we first met her. She now owns 14 dogs (four Saint Bernards - please let me know if you are interested in a free pure-bred St. Bernard puppy - and ten deer-legged chihauhas), three horses, four rabbits and one fish. This is 11 more pets than she had last summer. By next year, she will have more pets than Paris Hilton (this is something like 40 or 50, I believe).

From TN, I drove back to the Sisters, and, for once, had a lovely drive. I will remain here for a couple weeks, and then go to help ASP out in finishing some of their projects. Then, I will return to Asheville and on the 15th (if not before) return to DC just in time to move into my Village A apartment and begin meetings for Georgetown clubs.