Letter to A Soldier

Hello and Happy Holidays ~

Right now I am sitting on the front porch at about 2700 feet looking at the mountains.  There is a cool breeze now.  Our evenings are getting colder, going to the thirties and upper twenties.  It has been extremely dry for months.  Crows are squawking in the background and the chimes are swaying in the wind. 

I hope you don’t mind me typing this.  My typing is faster than my long hand and there is much I would like to share with you.

My home is in western North Carolina.  Although I am originally from the Baltimore, Washington, D.C.  area.    I was born in Baltimore and lived several places along the east coast.  Fifteen years ago, I moved south to be close to the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina.  This fulfilled my long standing desire to live in the mountains.   The Blue Ridge Parkway is twenty minutes to the east.

My town is just twenty-five minutes outside the national park which is west of me and is also the most visited part in the United States.  It also has no fee.  That is in part because it connects North Carolina to Tennessee.  

We have elk, black bear, coyote, fox, skunk, deer, raccoons, panther (though the wildlife folks won’t admit to it (because they would have to file a 300 page wildlife plan) many have seen them) just to name a few.  It is a quieter pace of life and I really enjoy that.  Western Carolina University is fifteen minutes away.  It is part of the NC university system.  There are rivers here, the main one being the Tuckaseigee, pronounced tuck a see gee just as it is spelled.  It means river of the turtle in Cherokee. Kayaking, rafting and tubing are popular sports.  This area is also part of the scenic rivers and flyfishing trail.  The Cherokee Boundary is twenty minutes away.  We also have wonderful lakes.

The trees are quickly losing their leaves.  The dogwoods are losing their rust leaves, the maples their goldish green ones.   I am grateful for the evergreens ~ white pines, hemlocks that didn’t get the wooly adelgid (bug), Norway maple,  which are always so pretty against a new fallen snow. 

I will close for now.  Wishing you a wonderful holiday!

To my readers. I have left out a few personal items to protect my privacy, but not in my letter to a soldier.  

 You can write them a letter, too.  Please see the address below.  Happy Holidays!