Grandma’s Close

I’ve been vacationing at Smith Mountain Lake since I was 19. It wasn’t long before I felt like I was coming home whenever I caught my first glimpse of The Blue Ridge Mountains. I put it down to the fact that both sides of my family were from the mountains, so of course it felt like coming home.

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My ultimate Happy Place is there on a small dock that is rarely used by others up in the cove. I can lie there and read or write or nap with a view of the main body of the lake backed by mountains with a miniature lighthouse between.

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I’ve always felt it was the serenity that made me so happy; a chance to stop the world’s day-to-day and get off the treadmill and coast. I made time for reading, writing, bible study, relaxing and doing whatever I wanted for a long weekend or week. The country setting and slower pace were a welcome change from our east coast city life.

A few days ago I was trying to remember when my grandmother, Claryce Petty, passed away and found her obituary. She died at 100 in the fall of 2007. I couldn’t believe she had been gone for 14 years! Reading through her brief obituary, I landed on the fact that she was born in Boone’s Mill, Virginia. I’d heard that a million times over the years but really didn”t know exactly where that was. I knew it was in the mountains, so I looked up how long a drive it would be from our cabin. It was 35 miles away!

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I was stunned to realize that I’d been traveling there for over 40 years and never knew that. My husband and I plan to visit in a week, so I am definitely making a trip to Boone’s Mill. Hopefully, we can find that house. I remember what it looks like from photos I’ve seen in the past and will be checking with my aunt to see if she can give me some idea where to look off the beaten path. (You know, turn at the lightning-struck oak, then left at the derelict truck covered in vines and make a right.)

My grandma meant the world to me. She was my guiding light for many, many years. She moved in with us when I was six as she was widowed at a relatively young age. She always had food I thought must be the best since I never ate some of the things she did. I caught her reading her Bible regularly and learned to do hundreds of things from her. She was my rock.

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I learned my love of travel from Grandma. She would take my sister, brother and me on alternating trips. I was lucky to be the one to go to Chicago to attend my only-girl-cousin’s wedding. We took many trips to visit Cousin Lula in Roanoke and other relatives in the western part of the state. I even had the chance to return to The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago on Lake Michigan to see the beluga whales she took me to see over 40 years earlier. It felt like a pilgrimage.

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Grandma taught me to fold draperies for her freelance business. She sewed the drapes for an entire local hospital. Several years ago, I interviewed Chaffin Interiors in Newport New, VA. One of the owners told me that my grandma was their first employee eons earlier. They even had a funny story about her sewing herself in blackout curtains they were crafting for NASA. The owner had to cut her out to free her!

When our interview and photo shoot was over, just before I walked out the door, Chaffin Interiors’ owner followed me and touching my arm, said, “I see so much of your grandmother in you.”

I cannot think of a finer compliment.

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So, I will be seeking the place where my grandma took her first breath. I don’t know what I’ll discover, but I know it will be a moving experience. Love you, Grandma.

Update: Visited Boones Mill and believe this was Grandma’s birthplace.

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