Your father left you a beautiful gift, for to read is to adventure, to love, to laugh, to grieve, to hold empathy, to gain a massive wealth. And it obviously made you a fantastic writer. Surely he's smiling down on you, proud as all get out ❤️
I'm the guy (1) who used to live in Birmingham for about 15 years, (2) who always asks about Jamie, and (3) who still has 2 sons living in Birmingham, one of whom pretty sure is a neighbor of yours (he lives in the Woodlawn Heights/Crestwood area).
I tried desperately to make your show in Lancaster. Changes in work schedule and a potential storm that didn't happen kept me n home.. When I read your story about the two Thai ladies it made me miss it all the more.
And now you're in Baltimore (it's Balmer, hon'!) looking out on the Inner Harbor and perhaps beyond, telling the tale of Chesapeake and your need to read it and love it. I'm proud you got Canada geese right. Too many folks think the plural is Canadian. You'll score even bigger points if, when speaking of her, you capitalize the Eastern Shore!
Despite my love for and longing for Alabama, I was raised here, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I too found Michener's Chesapeake a huge undertaking - in fact, I've never finished. But I do have, taped inside my copy, a handwritten note from Mr. Michener encouraging me to continue to write.
If you really want to see the Chesapeake Bay - I live on the Corsica River - right at the mouth as it enters the Chester River. Turn to your port (left) side there and in minutes you'll be up by Kent Island and the Chester's broad mouth as it enters the Chesapeake, the Bay Bridge (on a sunny day) gleaming right in front of you.
As the crow flies, Baltimore is due NW of me here. If you were to look at a map you'll see that the mouth of the Patapsco River (out of Balmer, hon'!) is diagonally, but directly across the bay from the mouth of the Chester I describe above.
You're only a 60 minute ride away - if you want to see a beautiful site, along with abundant wildlife (deer, foxes, rabbits, groundhogs, Canada geese, various & sundry breeds of duck, many breeds of birds, and bald eagles (and in summer, osprey nesting on a piling off our peer) - I invite you & Jamie for a visit. Anytime, you name it.
I'll show you some good ol' Southern hospitality way up north here, just barely below the Mason-Dixon Line.
I'll tell you about my freshman English Comp teacher whom I hold dear to my heart and still talk to frequently, and how she once gave me a B++++ but couldn't bring herself to give me an A-, not even once! 🤔
I might even show you my James Michener autograph.
An Honorary Alabamian stuck in Maryland, I remain, yours truly,
Oddly, I have had similar circumstances in my life, coming full circle, as it were, to parallel my parents' lives. My dad was a Navy Corpsman with the Marine Corps in the Pacific in WWII, and after seeing horrible things and then succumbing to a jungle illness, he was transported to Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone to recuperate.
When I joined the USMC during the Vietnam War, because I had two years of high school Spanish, they sent me to the Rodman Naval Base in the Canal Zone, and I passed by the Gorgas Hospital almost every day in the completion of my duties. Once I went into that building and walked the halls, in uniform, so no one stopped me or asked why I was there. Had they asked me, I couldn't have given a coherent answer, but now I see that I was trying to connect with my father somehow.
I got to know my dad a little better.
My mother, during WWII, worked at the secret city, Oak Ridge, TN, at the Y-12 plant, and worked on "The Bomb"... the bomb to end all bombs. She knew that she was working on something important, but couldn't have known exactly what. When "The Bomb" (two actually) were dropped on Japan, suddenly she knew what she had been working on.
Life's events finally took me back to college to complete my degree in English, and I became a technical editor/writer. And I ended up working in Oak Ridge, TN, at the K-25 site and at the Y-12 site.
Full circle. I got to understand my mom a little better.
As I look back, I can see other circle-closing cycles that I can't explain, but that I am grateful for.
Thanks for sharing the great stories, Sean and Bill. Connecting with your parents' early lives does indeed help us understand them better, a rewarding way to preserve their history.
We have an old photo of my father and some of his artillery battery buddies sitting on the steps of a building somewhere in Europe in WWII. Using Army records at the National Archives and the Eisenhower Library, my sons and I pinpointed where the photo was taken, and Google maps showed us the building is still there. My wife and I visited the site a few years ago and I sat on the exact same spot my father had back in WWII. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life. I still get chills just thinking about it.
My father died young and my sons never got to meet him, but they have plans to "visit" their grandfather at that same WWII spot.
Thank you, Bill in Tennessee. A flatlands Alabamian, I was taken on a tour of Oak Ridge while an untenured instructor at Tennessee Tech in the early 70s, but the tour only scratched the surface. Now, at 81, I have put on my Bucket List revisiting Oak Ridge, with a perspective gained that 50+ years of living has brought. (My 5th US Marine Division SSgt uncle was also in the Pacific, down on the beaches of Iwo Jima as the flag was being raised on Mt. Suribachi, and we learned in grade school history classes about Captain Gorgas and the etiology of Yellow Fever.)
Thank you, and God bless your uncle, wherever he is. When I speak to young people today, it saddens me to realize just how little they know of not only OUR generation, but our parents' and grandparents' generations and all the sacrifices they made.
I hope sometime in the future you can spend at least a week at the Chesapeake in friendlier weather; there is so much more to experience. Take the book with you and write your thoughts in the margins.
You were blessed to have such a wonderful father. Even though he was only in your life for such a short period of time, it was valuable, unforgettable time. The pain he must have felt at having to leave you as he did! What a struggle for both of you. You were clearly loved very much. Hold onto that always.
Heavens! I am so touched. You and I are looking at the same incredible body of water at the same time. Yes it is gray and gloomy because it’s that time of year, but it’s still magnificently gray and gloomy. I am looking at the Chesapeake Bay at this very moment because I live on the Bay. I watch the sun rise every morning here. Michener‘s Chesapeake is a beautiful book and I’m glad you found it. But I’m even more thrilled that you found the actual Chesapeake Bay. It’s deeply embedded in my soul now. I hope you’ll come back.
this one has me tearing up. I love Michener. I've read most of them but Chesapeake is my favorite of all and one of the few books I have read twice. I love the families, on that body of water, he created. I loved the big gun he talked about. I have a book about that gun now. James was an orphan, The way he began the book Hawaii with the volcanoes bursting out of the ocean and the people walking across the Bering Straights in Alaska. He puts you there even if it is a millions years ago. You come to love the mammoths in the Book Alaska. Be brought history to life. I am so glad your daddy read that book and you were able to connect with him. I understand his love of that book. And the love of your daddy. I was lucky to have mine till my 60s. Your dad sounded like a wonderful man......we love you, Sean. I know your daddy is so proud of the man you are now......
I usually really feel your stories Sean and this one hit home. My dad was self educated and loved books as well as reading. His favorite book was Ernest Hemingways Old Man and The Sea as my dad loved to fish. Needless to say, I read that book several times as a kid but never really got any lessons from it but because it was about fishing I too loved it and it always stayed with me. Recently I visited Key West, Florida and toured Hemingways house. At the gift shop I bought his book Old Man Of the Sea to read as an adult. It brought my dad back to me, lesson learned was Never Give Up and how much I really loved my dad , also the cats at Hemingways house.
Sean, the munificent God has given you a gift of words and conveying them to us, your readers. And your stories of memories of your dad are most precious. Thank you for continuing to share them with us.
Great column, Sean! Centennial is my all time favorite Michener. Sadly, I can’t imagine today’s young people reading him. Their Snapchat, Instagram, Instant Message smart phone world does not lend itself to 900 page books. They’re missing so much. I’m glad that I am of an age to have enjoyed so many of Michener’s books, even if that age now involves an aching back, dry eyes, cataracts, etc.
We're still here! My 14, 11 & 7 year old boys are voracious readers, taking down 1000 pages with ease (well, the 7 year old is still on Capt Underpants;) in all the "upstream parenting" that we do with our kids, this is one of the most vital. Society says give em a phone, I say give em a book and a ball🤓
CENTENNIAL was one I could not put down..from the land, the dinosaurs and the little beaver to the (then) modern ending...all 1086 pages! Life got even busier, and I never got around to reading Chesapeake, though an old flame was a pilot on The Georgeanna, a "snapper rig" commercial fishing boat for menhaden, on the Chesapeake. Now, at 81, 95% retired, and thankfully with decent eyesight, I shall treat self to Chesapeake...and read Centennial, and The Source, all over again!
Great column, and I've read the book, but my favorites are Centennial and Hawaii. When you read a Michener book about a place you keep having to remind yourself you haven't actually visited it. The first chapter on geology is usually a slog, but you can skip it and come back later.
You are here for a reason, Sean.
Keep on keeping on.
Thank you for your generous heart.
Your father left you a beautiful gift, for to read is to adventure, to love, to laugh, to grieve, to hold empathy, to gain a massive wealth. And it obviously made you a fantastic writer. Surely he's smiling down on you, proud as all get out ❤️
I'm the guy (1) who used to live in Birmingham for about 15 years, (2) who always asks about Jamie, and (3) who still has 2 sons living in Birmingham, one of whom pretty sure is a neighbor of yours (he lives in the Woodlawn Heights/Crestwood area).
I tried desperately to make your show in Lancaster. Changes in work schedule and a potential storm that didn't happen kept me n home.. When I read your story about the two Thai ladies it made me miss it all the more.
And now you're in Baltimore (it's Balmer, hon'!) looking out on the Inner Harbor and perhaps beyond, telling the tale of Chesapeake and your need to read it and love it. I'm proud you got Canada geese right. Too many folks think the plural is Canadian. You'll score even bigger points if, when speaking of her, you capitalize the Eastern Shore!
Despite my love for and longing for Alabama, I was raised here, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I too found Michener's Chesapeake a huge undertaking - in fact, I've never finished. But I do have, taped inside my copy, a handwritten note from Mr. Michener encouraging me to continue to write.
If you really want to see the Chesapeake Bay - I live on the Corsica River - right at the mouth as it enters the Chester River. Turn to your port (left) side there and in minutes you'll be up by Kent Island and the Chester's broad mouth as it enters the Chesapeake, the Bay Bridge (on a sunny day) gleaming right in front of you.
As the crow flies, Baltimore is due NW of me here. If you were to look at a map you'll see that the mouth of the Patapsco River (out of Balmer, hon'!) is diagonally, but directly across the bay from the mouth of the Chester I describe above.
You're only a 60 minute ride away - if you want to see a beautiful site, along with abundant wildlife (deer, foxes, rabbits, groundhogs, Canada geese, various & sundry breeds of duck, many breeds of birds, and bald eagles (and in summer, osprey nesting on a piling off our peer) - I invite you & Jamie for a visit. Anytime, you name it.
I'll show you some good ol' Southern hospitality way up north here, just barely below the Mason-Dixon Line.
I'll tell you about my freshman English Comp teacher whom I hold dear to my heart and still talk to frequently, and how she once gave me a B++++ but couldn't bring herself to give me an A-, not even once! 🤔
I might even show you my James Michener autograph.
An Honorary Alabamian stuck in Maryland, I remain, yours truly,
Barry Curry
PS - don't forget to bring Jamie 😎
I TOTALLY get this column. You couldn’t have said it better or honored your father more.
Oddly, I have had similar circumstances in my life, coming full circle, as it were, to parallel my parents' lives. My dad was a Navy Corpsman with the Marine Corps in the Pacific in WWII, and after seeing horrible things and then succumbing to a jungle illness, he was transported to Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone to recuperate.
When I joined the USMC during the Vietnam War, because I had two years of high school Spanish, they sent me to the Rodman Naval Base in the Canal Zone, and I passed by the Gorgas Hospital almost every day in the completion of my duties. Once I went into that building and walked the halls, in uniform, so no one stopped me or asked why I was there. Had they asked me, I couldn't have given a coherent answer, but now I see that I was trying to connect with my father somehow.
I got to know my dad a little better.
My mother, during WWII, worked at the secret city, Oak Ridge, TN, at the Y-12 plant, and worked on "The Bomb"... the bomb to end all bombs. She knew that she was working on something important, but couldn't have known exactly what. When "The Bomb" (two actually) were dropped on Japan, suddenly she knew what she had been working on.
Life's events finally took me back to college to complete my degree in English, and I became a technical editor/writer. And I ended up working in Oak Ridge, TN, at the K-25 site and at the Y-12 site.
Full circle. I got to understand my mom a little better.
As I look back, I can see other circle-closing cycles that I can't explain, but that I am grateful for.
Thanks for sharing the great stories, Sean and Bill. Connecting with your parents' early lives does indeed help us understand them better, a rewarding way to preserve their history.
We have an old photo of my father and some of his artillery battery buddies sitting on the steps of a building somewhere in Europe in WWII. Using Army records at the National Archives and the Eisenhower Library, my sons and I pinpointed where the photo was taken, and Google maps showed us the building is still there. My wife and I visited the site a few years ago and I sat on the exact same spot my father had back in WWII. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life. I still get chills just thinking about it.
My father died young and my sons never got to meet him, but they have plans to "visit" their grandfather at that same WWII spot.
God bless the greatest generation.
Thank you, Bill in Tennessee. A flatlands Alabamian, I was taken on a tour of Oak Ridge while an untenured instructor at Tennessee Tech in the early 70s, but the tour only scratched the surface. Now, at 81, I have put on my Bucket List revisiting Oak Ridge, with a perspective gained that 50+ years of living has brought. (My 5th US Marine Division SSgt uncle was also in the Pacific, down on the beaches of Iwo Jima as the flag was being raised on Mt. Suribachi, and we learned in grade school history classes about Captain Gorgas and the etiology of Yellow Fever.)
Thank you, and God bless your uncle, wherever he is. When I speak to young people today, it saddens me to realize just how little they know of not only OUR generation, but our parents' and grandparents' generations and all the sacrifices they made.
Lovely.
I hope sometime in the future you can spend at least a week at the Chesapeake in friendlier weather; there is so much more to experience. Take the book with you and write your thoughts in the margins.
You were blessed to have such a wonderful father. Even though he was only in your life for such a short period of time, it was valuable, unforgettable time. The pain he must have felt at having to leave you as he did! What a struggle for both of you. You were clearly loved very much. Hold onto that always.
Heavens! I am so touched. You and I are looking at the same incredible body of water at the same time. Yes it is gray and gloomy because it’s that time of year, but it’s still magnificently gray and gloomy. I am looking at the Chesapeake Bay at this very moment because I live on the Bay. I watch the sun rise every morning here. Michener‘s Chesapeake is a beautiful book and I’m glad you found it. But I’m even more thrilled that you found the actual Chesapeake Bay. It’s deeply embedded in my soul now. I hope you’ll come back.
this one has me tearing up. I love Michener. I've read most of them but Chesapeake is my favorite of all and one of the few books I have read twice. I love the families, on that body of water, he created. I loved the big gun he talked about. I have a book about that gun now. James was an orphan, The way he began the book Hawaii with the volcanoes bursting out of the ocean and the people walking across the Bering Straights in Alaska. He puts you there even if it is a millions years ago. You come to love the mammoths in the Book Alaska. Be brought history to life. I am so glad your daddy read that book and you were able to connect with him. I understand his love of that book. And the love of your daddy. I was lucky to have mine till my 60s. Your dad sounded like a wonderful man......we love you, Sean. I know your daddy is so proud of the man you are now......
I usually really feel your stories Sean and this one hit home. My dad was self educated and loved books as well as reading. His favorite book was Ernest Hemingways Old Man and The Sea as my dad loved to fish. Needless to say, I read that book several times as a kid but never really got any lessons from it but because it was about fishing I too loved it and it always stayed with me. Recently I visited Key West, Florida and toured Hemingways house. At the gift shop I bought his book Old Man Of the Sea to read as an adult. It brought my dad back to me, lesson learned was Never Give Up and how much I really loved my dad , also the cats at Hemingways house.
Sean, the munificent God has given you a gift of words and conveying them to us, your readers. And your stories of memories of your dad are most precious. Thank you for continuing to share them with us.
Wow!!! That what a sweet and wonderful story!!! What a connection with your Dad that book provided!!!😊❤️🙏
If only we could go back one more time and tell them things that we never thought of...but one more time would never be enough.
Great column, Sean! Centennial is my all time favorite Michener. Sadly, I can’t imagine today’s young people reading him. Their Snapchat, Instagram, Instant Message smart phone world does not lend itself to 900 page books. They’re missing so much. I’m glad that I am of an age to have enjoyed so many of Michener’s books, even if that age now involves an aching back, dry eyes, cataracts, etc.
We're still here! My 14, 11 & 7 year old boys are voracious readers, taking down 1000 pages with ease (well, the 7 year old is still on Capt Underpants;) in all the "upstream parenting" that we do with our kids, this is one of the most vital. Society says give em a phone, I say give em a book and a ball🤓
CENTENNIAL was one I could not put down..from the land, the dinosaurs and the little beaver to the (then) modern ending...all 1086 pages! Life got even busier, and I never got around to reading Chesapeake, though an old flame was a pilot on The Georgeanna, a "snapper rig" commercial fishing boat for menhaden, on the Chesapeake. Now, at 81, 95% retired, and thankfully with decent eyesight, I shall treat self to Chesapeake...and read Centennial, and The Source, all over again!
I too live to read but thanks for expanding my vocabulary today. That’s so munificent of you. 😃
Great column, and I've read the book, but my favorites are Centennial and Hawaii. When you read a Michener book about a place you keep having to remind yourself you haven't actually visited it. The first chapter on geology is usually a slog, but you can skip it and come back later.
The Source is another MIchener treasure.
Thanks Sean for this post today! It gives me a "warm fuzzy loving feeling" The love you felt for your Dad is wonderful.