Last week I wrote a wonderful Blog Fodder #2 - TWICE.  I lost it - TWICE.  I guess now it's time for me to re-write and pray that I don't lose it again....     

Blog Fodder #2 was submitted by Nikki-Ann who wants to know: "Tell us about somebody who has changed your life, even if just a little bit."

The year was 1987, I think.  I got on a Greyhound bus with a suitcase of belongings, as much as I could squeeze in.  I was going to a place foreign to me, Virginia.  Christiansburg, Virginia was my Greyhound destination and I was greeted by my aunt Colleen with open arms.  I barely knew my aunt anymore, but this was a new adventure and I was eager to get it started.  I watched the small City of Christiansburg disappear as we drove home, gorgeous rolling hills, fresh air & farmland began to surround us.  What beauty!  I could appreciate it... but I was also a little unsure of what Floyd, Virginia might offer me.  I had lived south of Boston all of my life and Floyd was literally a one-stoplight town, similar to Mayberry. 

So this was my new life.  New surroundings, new friends, a new way of life, new hopes & even new very strong attractions to southern gentlemen (my how they melted my heart)!  I have such vivid memories of the good stuff and forget the bad - for not everything was as perfect as I'd like to remember - but the memories are a part of me and began with Colleen.  I have such vivid memories of those carefree days....  laying in the hammock reading to pass the day; picking puff balls out of the cow field & frying them for dinner;  visiting commune like neighborhoods to watch dancing & drumming & sweats; eating vegetarian food and of going to dances & parties.  Many memories of log cabins, more cow fields, mountains, pickup trucks, El-Camino's & a even mustang here and there.  Memories of fun times with new friends & old, hours spent with Becky, who grew up down the street from me in Massachusetts and also grew attached to Floyd, right along with me.  Memories of just getting to know my aunt and her two small boys.   

My aunt Colleen was one of nine, my mother being the oldest girl.  I grew up attached to the hip to my aunts and uncles, as my Mom was a single working gal and I practically lived at my Nanas house.  I remember Colleen when I was little, mostly through photographs and as I grew I remembered a few sporadic things...  visiting a cottage that she rented near a lake, her wedding & the time she took me to the daycare center she taught at so I could help her teach.  In my teen years Colleen lived in Texas, for she had married someone who wanted to settle elsewhere and from Texas she then migrated to Floyd.  I never got to visit Colleen and I didn't see her often anymore but mother and she were very close and corresponded constantly.  More memories come back from this time period of reading Colleen's Mothering articles & Poetry and when my mother home-schooled me for a year I remember Colleen being her inspiration.  

When life brought a few bumps and bruises my way, Mom was the one to suggest I try "Colleen's Virginia" - which did change my life - most definately.  I stayed only a short time initially, but somehow I was attached to this place.  There is a magnet in these mountains that pulls you in and keeps you here or keeps you coming back.  My daughter was raised here and this is home now, equally as much as Massachusetts has been.    I guess my life was changed by Colleen.... I love her for it and for the wonderful person she is!