Fragments From Floyd

It hasn't, and perhaps it won't happen often. But it is the most gratifying part of this ongoing endeavor to extend the discussion with book readers that I have been having with blog readers now for some years. (Can it be that long?) I'd like to think that, for every vocal "resonator" in the readership, there are ten more silent ones. But the half dozen I've heard from gives me a lot of satisfaction. In those few, the parts and the whole of Slow Road Home has found that place in the reader that speaks of connection with the land and family, that satisfies a longing to belong to a place--even if it is not their place other than by way of the words of the book.

A few readers have told me "I understand what you tell us about how it feels to be who and where you are." That kind of connectedness is what I so hoped for when this weblog began in rather desparate and uncertain times four years ago. And now, to know at least in these few mails, emails, phone calls, conversations and blog posts that I was not, am not a tree falling in empty forest...well, I feel I have come home.

Robert Paterson lives on Prince Edward Island, a very far distance from Goose Creek. And yet, he doesn't. We live far closer than the map would make us think. He reviews the book in his blog to say that in his world and history are shared experiences, hopes and understandings with the story of the book--my story, my dog, our valley, sky, forest, and times. They are, in part, his dog, his sky. All I can say to Robert and other "resonators" who have let me know their feelings is a very heart-felt YES!