I have a slip of paper torn from a 1962 Farmer's Almanac calendar. The date June 20th is circled and the word "BURNED" is written . It's my grandmother's handwriting. I came across it when we were cleaning out her house and I put it in my keep pile. "BURNED" - I understood the significance. "Now you remember . . . " she would say, "you remember that my old homeplace in Hickory Valley burned." I've heard her voice so clearly in my head this week - telling me how she mourned the loss of that house and how losing it was like losing her mother all over again.The week after Christmas was frigidly cold here in Tennessee. The temperatures hovered in the teens and twenties. More than once I thought of my grandmother's house and wondered about the water pipes - they have a tendency to freeze unless the water in the sinks is left dripping. I thought about the house standing empty and cold and I worried about the pipes. Silly really, considering the fact that the house had been sold and was going to be demolished to make way for a new elementary school. Sold and demolished . . . what did it matter about the pipes? Still, I worried. And so it was that I Googled "Hurst House Paulette Elementary" to see what progress, if any, had been made on the new school. What I found was devastating. Photo after photo of the house burning. Photos dated January 2nd, 2010 and posted on Facebook by the local volunteer fire department. The caption read "Controlled Burn at the old Hurst place." Controlled burn - words I can't make fit together, especially after seeing the photographs. This beautiful house that stood for over 120 years and provided a home and gathering place for my family for over 60 years was burned. My homeplace is gone and my grandparents are gone and I can't call my mother to help make it better. I am heartbroken.
Burned - January 2nd, 2010
