MY GRANDPA

My grandpa and most of his brothers were coal miners in their youth. My grandpa took his eight year old son, my dad, into the depth of a mine and told him, "This is the first, last and only time you will ever be in a coal mine".

I remember hearing my grandpa talk to one of his brothers about their times in the coal mines and I was always on the edge of my seat when they talked about the time Uncle Claude was in a mine explosion. That was when he lost three fingers. My grandma said she would always remember waiting for word if my uncle would be saved. It was a miracle he survived. Can you even begin to imagine going to work in a coal mine day after day after day?

We need coal. There are people willing to mine it for us. We need to salute their efforts and morn the ones we all lost this week in West Virginia.