Marshall McClung
Most everyone has heard the term “Coming of Age” at some point in their life.
Although it can mean reaching adulthood, I personally found that it was a series of events that marked certain periods of growth.
Kids today seem to learn much more about lots of things long before we did. I am not totally convinced that this is necessarily a good thing.
We had to learn a lot of things the hard way – such as not eating green apples from a lady’s orchard, as this caused her to use bad language and call us names not printable here. She also hoped it made us have to make lots of trips to the bathroom – but not in those words.
This same lady decided it was time we learned the facts of life about the “birds and bees.” We knew some about birds and bees – but as the conversation continued in explicit detail, we found out she was talking about girls. Since we were still way down in the lower classes in school, we didn’t get the full message. We looked at each other and wondered why we would want to spend time with girls when we could be riding our bikes or hunting possums.
Of course, this all changed in a few years.
Concerning death, I saw my first dead person before I started to school. There wasn’t a funeral home here then, so visitation was held at the home of the deceased – with the body usually in the living room. Since this was a relative, my dad took me with him. I thought the man was asleep. I asked my dad how he could sleep with all the loud talking that was going on. He told me the man was dead.
When we were young, we thought that only old people died. One day – when we were in Metz Cemetery, on Atoah Road – we discovered the grave of a girl who was only 16 when she died. That got our attention. Then, a young boy was killed when he jumped – or fell – from a moving truck, to further convince us that death could come at any age.
I was born and lived in a log house on the side of a mountain that was surrounded by woods. I spent as much time in the woods alone as possible from the time I was old enough to be allowed out of the house. I was not accustomed to being around people and would hide in the woods when someone visited. As a result, it took me much longer than most to “come of age.” Was this a bad thing?
When you learn things the hard way, you will be more likely to remember them.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He is retired from the U.S. Forest Service and can be reached via email, mcclungs828@gmail.com.