When I was a teenager living at home in Wadeville, I had a favorite swimming spot, which was in a creek that ran beside my daddy’s garden. My niece, nephew and I would take rocks, gravel, old logs and sand and dam up a spot deep and wide enough for us to play in. We would help my dad chop the garden. On a really hot day, when we got through chopping, we’d run and jump into the swimming hole. We had on our bathing suits under our work clothes. Oh, what a relief it was in the cold water! I’m 90 years old now and remember those good ol’ days.

Jewel Byrd, Wingate, a member of Union Power Cooperative