5:50 p.m. - 2003-05-03
Old Man Of The Mountains
A dear old friend of mine is no longer - The Old Man of the Mountain is gone.
For those of you not from New Hampshire, the Old Man of the Mountain is the symbol of our Granite State, a rock formation in the White Mountains. A rocky face jutting out from the mountainside, he was the epitomy of how New Hampshire natives view themselves. Weathered but unbeaten, a rock of ages, ever ready to take on a storm. Ever unyielding, live free or die.
I loved that Old Man. I first saw him as a kid on a trip to the White Mountains with my maternal grandparents. I remember looking at the Old Man, and then looking at my grandfather, who was a weathered old New Hampshire farmer. I thought how similar they looked, and I thought, "That's what kind of people we are. We are sturdy granite people." And I felt very proud.
Bruce and I used to drive up to the White Mountains on weekends, and when we did we'd go to Profile Lake and look up at the Old Man. And always I would have those feelings. That I was from sturdy people, that I could weather the hardest storm.
I hardly ever talk about my mother's family, because my father's English ancestry is so much more wacky and lovable. Everyone likes an eccentric medical botanist! But truth to tell, I love my mother's ancestry just as much, and I'm very proud to be descended from those weathered New Englanders, those sturdy granite people. Those people that the Old Man represents.
Or used to represent. My mother called me a few minutes ago, and told me that the Old Man fell today. For years he had been helped along by cables and wiring, but today these devices failed, and the Old Man came crashing down. I cried when she told me. I think she was crying, too.
"It's like the world is ending, that he's gone." I sobbed.
"I know", she said, "Or like September 11th."
The next time you get a bunch of quarters, look for a New Hampshire one. Turn it to tails and you'll see the rocky face of the Old Man. I don't know whether it's appropriate to pray at the death of a man of stone, but I'll be setting a candle on the altar tonight in memory of that face I always loved.
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