OPINION | The Local Views From the managing editor
LETTERS
Love certainly makes adapting easier
| Reader Views
By Melody Kinser Managing Editor hen Mom put her house on the market, sold most of the furnishings, and packed to move here in 2009, my sister and I were so proud of her as she took charge of the next chapter in her life. Leaving wasn’t easy -- she had lived in the same area for almost 79 years. And the house she sold within a year of leaving it had been the first and only home she and Dad owned. They bought it in July 1961, just days before my 5th birthday. Mom still has a lot of sentimentality about that neighborhood and the friends she made during all those years. It was the same neighborhood her parents settled in after leaving the farming life in eastern Kentucky for Grandpa’s 40-year career in the coal mines. As I’ve said before, I arrived in Winchester, Virginia, in the spring of 2005 because I knew I
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needed to get closer to my sister, whose health was rapidly declining. The goal was to find employment in Richmond. I do appreciate the opportunity the Byrd family gave me by opening the door to Virginia with a copy editor’s job at The Winchester Star. But the focus remained on getting to Richmond. Fortunately, the editor’s job opened at The Mechanicsville Local and I was blessed to start there in July 2008. Mom made the move here in September 2009. Sometimes I forget that leaving Logan, West Virginia, was a lifetime of change for my mother. Despite being very well traveled, that was home. And, to her, it still is. She enjoys life in Mechanicsville and all that living in the Greater Richmond area provides. But she maintains that the small city in a valley between hills and a river is her home. When I moved out on my own in 1976, I was like “free at last.” Young and carefree best
described many years of my life. In 1991, I started moving with my career -- never thinking that Dad would suddenly die a year later. Mom retired when they had planned and was content in their house. We almost lost my sister in July 2004, that’s when I knew I had to move to Virginia. I was confident that if I got here Mom would soon follow. She did spend at least a month every summer and most of the winter with me in Winchester. We both knew I wasn’t staying there though, so her moving wasn’t an issue then. We recently celebrated our 8th anniversary in a lovely house in a wonderful retirement community. Our neighbors are kind and caring. I often forget what Mom gave me to join her daughters, but I know she’d do it again. That’s the thing about love: it supercedes all other aspects of life. She is a blessing and I thank God every day when I hear her say, “Good morning.”
Memorial Day message is not quarantined By Jim Ridolphi Contributing Columnist As a child, we celebrated Memorial Day in much the same way we recognized other summer holidays — by decorating our bikes and staging a parade.
I guess anyone from that generation will recall the importance of bicycles in our daily existence. A pile of bicycles hastily parked beside a playground was a regular sight in our neighborhood. Our bikes became a mystical vehicle that could take us anywhere. If you
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were playing Cowboys and Indians, the horse below us had two wheels and spokes. On other occasions, the bikes became ships on open water preparing to do battle. And when Memorial Day rolled around, these same bikes became our floats for a neighborhood organized
parade. It would be the finale in a day of cookouts, badminton games and runs though the sprinkler. Any backyard would do serving as a prep area, filled with colorful streamers and homemade signs hung see MESSAGE, pg. 8
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Pandemic’s ‘freedom protestors’ Look, I’ll begin with a short background to set y’all “freedom protesters” on the correct and “truthful” path. I was in the USNR (United States Navy Reserve) for 28 months in the first year of the 1980s. When I graduated with a degree, I thought “with being a reservist and a mechanic with a degree” maybe I could get a commission in the USN (United States Navy).” I was wrong. Not good enough. So I went to the U.S. Army (apparently they’ll commission anyone with a pulse). I spent 22 years there with an active duty slot at the end. Got shown the door (as I was walking into my lieutenant colonel job) because I pissed off the wrong little jerk (done that a few times in my life ... I regret this now). You know what they say in Texas ... “oil well.” You cannot change yesterday, just today. You can only hope (and plan for tomorrow). This brings me to the subject of this letter. These “freedom rallies” are disguised. They’re very well disguised as “practice drills” for a race war. Why, for instance, is there a Republican legislator in Michigan’s legislature with a battle-flag mask on their face (during session)? Why are there Nazi flags present at these rallies? Why are there little punks with long rifles in the capital building? Why are there Gadsden flags being perverted at these rallies? Why did Trump first say, “I alone will decide when to reopen the states?” Then walk it back. By the way, leaders make tactical decisions then stand by these decisions because they’re leaders and that’s what leaders do. By the way, walking back (everything) isn’t a leader’s behavior. It is see LETTERS, pg. 8
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The Mechanicsville Local
May 27, 2020
