If you haven’t seen this on Netflix, please do. It takes place in a rural town in Kentucky and there’s lots of MeeMas and PawPaws there.

Quite a few years ago I worked in West Virgina Coal country and MeeMaws and PawPaws are real. I rented a little house next door from some that they owned. We called ’em “Mamita” and “Poppeeda” a variation on the theme.

They’d bring me supper, I’d listen to stories, they’d ask me about my day and we’d get to chattin’. “Let me tell you Lord, what happened at Church yesterday” They also introduced me to porch sittin’ and sweet tea – just walk down the street and folks in rockers or lawn chairs would offer you sweet tea, and talk your ear off.

I met coal miners and old timers who called a 6 pack their medicine. I wandered the shops down on Main street and one day walked into a bookstore and oddities emporium. In walked a little fireball of a gal who engaged me in a conversation about blind placebo studies. We’ve been married about 15 years now.

Once baptized into her family, I learned to bail hay, ride a 4 wheeler, dress a deer, pick apples, can vegetables and sit for supper round the kitchen table. I learned that shopping at Walmart was a treat and there are equal portions of churches and liquor stores in every town. Some folks I met had been broken by opiates and alcohol. Others ran art galleries and little theatre groups and I learned to love Bluegrass.

This was more than community. This might have been the first time I experienced family. I even brought some back with me. I think that little ol’ gal is in the kitchen right now makin’ coffee.