I want to wish all my friends in southern West Virginia a very merry and meaningful Christmas with much happiness in the days that follow. Also, I thank you for putting up with my simple tales that might not mean much to you, but are priceless to me. As I remember my days as a youth back on the Laurel Fork or Guyandotte, I get an image of home that is entirely different from what I see when I visit those places now. Those beautiful images that come to mind are built on the experiences I had, and they can only come around once. Life is about experiences. I can go to the place called home, but it will never feel like home. Gone are most of the characters in my stories, and even most of those great experiences that I mentioned have faded from memory. Do I sound like a lonely old man who has nothing better to do than cry in his beer? Not!! I say that to make a point. When I can share experiences with people like many of you, who have experienced life in the same general ways that I have, it’s the closest thing to going home again that I can think of. Again, I thank you for being good listeners, and, again, MERRY CHRISTMAS. STAN P.S. You wont believe how beautiful the falling snow outside my window on the Rocky Mountain Wasatch range looks. Think I will take my skis to Alta tomorrow and build some more memories.

Stan, I want to thank you so much for giving me a glimpse of what life must have been like for my daddy. He was born in 1920 in Standard, WV, went to Marshfork High School and lived in both Wyoming and Raleigh County. He talked some about the days of walking to school over the mountain in snow, hunting and fishing for food, walking miles to see relatives - the blood kind and the "honorary" ones. He worked in the mines until 1940 when he thought he'd join the Navy for a "safer" job. I remember going up to Charleston when I was 10 (vaguely) and hadn't been back until this past May. My trip was memorable in that I saw what my daddy saw and talked about and met family I never knew. Daddy didn't talk a lot about the past - he lived in the present, so I just had no idea what life was like for him in the 20's and 30's. Again, thank you for your gift - I'm saving them all. Genness Milam Addenbrook -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of STANLEY BROWNING Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 9:03 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [WVWYOMIN] Home for Christmas I want to wish all my friends in southern West Virginia a very merry and meaningful Christmas with much happiness in the days that follow. Also, I thank you for putting up with my simple tales that might not mean much to you, but are priceless to me. As I remember my days as a youth back on the Laurel Fork or Guyandotte, I get an image of home that is entirely different from what I see when I visit those places now. Those beautiful images that come to mind are built on the experiences I had, and they can only come around once. Life is about experiences. I can go to the place called home, but it will never feel like home. Gone are most of the characters in my stories, and even most of those great experiences that I mentioned have faded from memory. Do I sound like a lonely old man who has nothing better to do than cry in his beer? Not!! I say that to make a point. When I can share experiences with people like many of you, who have experienced life in the same general ways that I have, it's the closest thing to going home again that I can think of. Again, I thank you for being good listeners, and, again, MERRY CHRISTMAS. STAN P.S. You wont believe how beautiful the falling snow outside my window on the Rocky Mountain Wasatch range looks. Think I will take my skis to Alta tomorrow and build some more memories. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message