Book Giveaway, Day Five

Photo courtesy Erik Thorson copyright 2012

She was diminutive, classy, and sharply dressed. The twinkle in her eyes defied the gray in her hair. She sat at my dining room table and carefully took the papers out of her folder, revealing the story of her life to me in clippings of black and white.

She unsnarled the facts I had collected, slipped the missing pieces of her family history into place, and smiled sweetly as I connected the dots.

For years I have been working on a history of the place I have chosen to live out my days on earth, a nondescript railroad junction on the Nimipuu (Nez Perce) Reservation in Idaho. Its brown hills stand mute guard over the valley, as if reluctant to share its colorful past with strangers. The Clearwater River cuts through the canyon and traverses shores that once hosted Captains Lewis and Clark as they explored the vast wilderness to the ocean.

We landed here in 1963 after moving around the country many times when I was a child. It instantly became the place I set down my roots. After nearly fifty years of living here, I love this beautiful, dry, star-thistle-covered old valley more than ever.

One of my pets projects is compiling a history of Arrow, and with every new person I meet, I am more beguiled by the rich heritage it yields from its past.

Today, my heart is full of gratitude for being given such a wonderful place to live. I am thankful God took our family and set us down in a place where He knew we would best grow upward toward Him.

To those who lived here, and to those who are my neighbors, I just want to say I am a richer person for having known you.

(Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a free, hardcover copy of Song in the Night. There are four ways to enter the book giveaway:  leave me a comment,  "like" us on Facebook SongInTheNight.net  become a member of this blog, or send me an e-mail at thesong2008@live.com.)