Written by William Kirkpatrick

I first experienced Lemuria while in early elementary school in the old Highland Village location. I recall my babysitter at the time worked there as a part time job while she was in high school. Writing this narrative caused me to pause and consider just how far the reach of Lemuria extends beyond the boundaries of Jackson and Mississippi. I’ve lived in Leesburg, VA in the suburbs of Washington DC for almost 10 years while my previously mentioned babysitter was residing in Singapore the last time I had an update on her whereabouts. I suspect there are countless other stories of displaced Mississippians who have had their lives touched in some form or fashion by their experiences at Lemuria.

I grew up in Jackson and have lived all over the South since finishing at MSU in 1993 – Atlanta, New Orleans, Nashville, back to Atlanta, before being asked by my employer to move to the Washington DC area in 2006. As a Mississippian and proud Southerner by heart, moving to DC seemed no different than being asked to move to New York, Detroit, or Toronto – it might as well have been the North Pole. To say we were apprehensive would be a huge understatement. It certainly wasn’t the South – even though all my new neighbors from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey seemed to think it was. Fast forward to present time and I have to share that Leesburg, VA has been a wonderful place to live, but it’s still not the South.

Our boys were 3 and 5 when we arrived in Leesburg. It dawned on me shortly after arrival that if we didn’t make an effort to do so, they would grow up without understanding their Southern roots of a Dad from Jackson and their Mom and my wife Sylvia from New Orleans. I also noticed I was missing The South – other than catfish, sweat tea, and BBQ, I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is that I was missing, but I found a big part of it in Southern Literature. Lemuria played a large role in making that happen. I joined their First Editions Club several years ago and eagerly anticipate the monthly delivery, often working with Adie to add several additional signed first editions to my shipment. For those who say the internet killed the independent bookstore, I can share that without it I would have never known about, let alone joined the First Editions Club.

If you need a reminder of just what being a Southerner is all about – both the good and the bad , grab a copy of William Alexander Percy’s “Lanterns on the Levee”, Richard Wright’s “Black Boy”, John Barry’s “Rising Tide”, or countless other wonderful books by historically well-known authors like Willie Morris, Walker Percy, Eudora Welty, William Faulkner or Shelby Foote. If you prefer a more recent time in South, Lemuria has you covered there as well with Ace Atkins, Greg Iles, and of course John Grisham along with countless others. I had never cried when reading a book until earlier this year when I reached the end of The Secret Wisdom of the Earth by Christopher Scotton in his debut novel. It was the best book I have read in many years. If you haven’t read it, you need to get to Lemuria and pick up a copy.

I’ll close by saying that I have had many reasons to come back to Jackson over the years to visit family. In February 2014 that changed when I spent a month with my Mom in Jackson when she had to be placed in hospice care at the end of her battle with cancer. Her 2nd husband and I took turns staying with her on 24 hour shifts at the hospice facility in Ridgeland. The first week I was there helping Mom was interrupted by my Grandma passing away at St. Catherine’s Village in Madison. To say it was a tough month would be an understatement as it left me with a much smaller family and no remaining relatives in Mississippi. The one place that I gravitated to almost every day after my time taking care of Mom ended was Lemuria. I would estimate that I visited Lemuria 15-20 times that month. I never told anyone why I was there and was treated with the same Southern hospitality I had always enjoyed. For those hours, I was able to be at peace in a different world from the one I had just left.

Our boys are now 11 and 14 and are well on their way to understanding their Southern roots. They have been to Lemuria many times and for several years it has been their idea to go there instead of mine. We don’t get to Jackson as much as we used to and it will probably remain that way for a while, but one of the ways we stay connected is through Lemuria and getting book recommendations from Adie and Clara. The other parts of their Southern Education center around Mississippi State football games and family vacations in Orange Beach. We just smile when people act like we are crazy for vacationing on the Gulf Coast rather than the wonderful nearby beaches in Delaware and Maryland. If only they knew, yet we are happy that they don’t.

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