What Is Your Eden?

The question "What is your Eden?" came from my counselor Al Andrews last spring.  We had him join us on a weekend run and sat back in my dressing room with the band and pondered over that question.  It was so fascinating to hear from my band mates what their answers were.  So many of us, including me, answered with a childhood memory.  My answer was the backyard of my grandparents’ house in Waverly, TN.  It was perfection to me.  There was a pristine creek that ran through it where I learned to fish and a big wooded hill up the back where I would watch my granddad hunt.  His name was Paul Petty, I called him Papa.  He was a small town barber and a respected elder in his church.  He fought in a few wars and battled a longer war with diabetes.  He was witty, and strong, and handsome.  My grandmother Maude, I called her Ducky, worked hard in her garden of tomatoes, okra, corn and squash.  She had soft hands for a gardener.  She hated to cook, but she was really good at it.  I still put honey on my toast because of her.   

My mom and dad divorced when I was young, but I don't have very many memories of it because much of that time, my mom sent me to Waverly.  I was protected and loved and innocent.  Obviously I would learn the heartbreaking reality of what divorce feels like later, but that summer, I still had my innocence.  I loved my grandparents and they lived a long full life together.  They are both gone now and the house was sold.  I romanticize about buying that house so I can get that backyard back.  I took Al there this past summer.  He saw my Eden, and it was perfect.  What’s your Eden?