East Texas Homecoming

Spectres of a past life

“You can never come home again.”

-Thomas Wolfe

Rocky the Raccoon.

This expression of longing for home from author Thomas Wolfe, while well-worn has much truth contained in it. Yes, the rolling hills and pine trees of East Texas still stand, but after decades of being away it is no longer home. The remnants and memories remain around every corner, whispering their secrets to a youth long gone. Being here is like wrapping oneself in a comfortable old blanket, full of patches and stains, but still very loved.

East Texas pasture.

25 years ago I left to hopefully see as much of this big world as I could, yet throughout this time I am drawn back to these green hills and forests. Generations of kin have made the great state of Texas our home-eking out a living from the soil through crops and black gold.

My Great-Grandfather “Papaw”, second from left on an oil rig circa 1940s.

The “World’s Richest Acre” during the oil boom heyday in Kilgore, Texas circa 1930s.

While easy to overly romanticize the past one must keep in mind how hard and dangerous it could be to make a living. With no OSHA safety rules to speak of men in the oil industry regularly were maimed or killed coaxing crude oil from the stubborn earth.

It can easily be forgotten how much of a wunderkind modern medicine is when compared to health science of less than a century ago. Antibiotics, vaccines and preventative measures would look almost magical to man of the early 20th century.

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Surreal West Texas cloud formation.

There are several Texan writers who have captured the essence and character of the state including Larry McMurtry and Stephen Harrigan that I highly recommend for readers who want to delve into the mystique (and realities) of the Lone Star State.

Lake O’ The Pines

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Links:

Oil Boom Town

http://www.texasescapes.com/EastTexasTowns/Kilgore-Texas.htm

8 Legendary Authors From the Lone Star State

https://www.nightherontexas.org/blog/8-legendary-authors-from-the-lone-star-state