In the Mines

John Lawson Totten (top left) then Cora beside him. Dad, Howard, is the baby. Several years ago dad and I took a vacation together to visit the area in West Virginia where he grew up. We took a tour of a coal mine that had been turned into a museum. Dad told me about his father some times working two shifts. The person that gave us the tour had been a coal miner himself and told us how they would lay on their side in the wet and cold and use their picks to chip away at the vein of coal.  Dad knew his father worked hard but until that time he hadn't realized just how hard and dangerous his father's work had been.  Dad told me a lot of stories. He showed me the place where he first kissed a girl. We would stop off the highway when was came to a stream, would take off our shoes and socks and sit on a big rock soaking our feet and legs while I'd listen to his stories.  Everyone should be so lucky.