Walking Old Roads with Tammy Hader
In my heart and mind, Tammy Hader’s Walking Old Roads will forever be linked with my memory of my mother.
She (my mother, not Tammy) was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer while I was in the middle of reading Hader’s book. I continued to read the book in fits and spurts while caring for my mother through home hospice. There were heavy thoughts and heavier feelings throughout — sometimes good and sometimes not-so-good, on both counts.
All of that is the primary reason that I’ve taken so long to write this piece, but it’s not the only reason. Something about Tammy’s book just sticks in my craw, and I’ve got to talk about it.
Hader is a writer here on Medium. That’s how I discovered her.
She and I have exchanged a couple messages, but mostly I know her entirely through her writing, which I have always appreciated. The vast bulk of modern web writing is rehashed, “evergreen” trash churned out for no other reason than making a quick penny (or, realistically, a fraction of a penny).
There are real writers out there, as well, though — and Hader is one of them. Hader, in fact, is one of my favorite modern writers — I don’t mean just on Medium, but in the world (there are some others here on Medium, too — I trust you’ll know who you are).
