Rappahannock Dreams: A Sort of Homecoming

I was such a weird nerdy kid growing up. When I was thirteen I was briefly admitted to Mary Washington Hospital due to a football injury. I remember this really nice nurse having small talk with me, trying to ease my pain. I’ll never forget the look on her face when she’d asked me, “So, tell me young man, what do you want to be when you grow up? Be a running back or a wide receiver in the NFL?” Without hesitation, I said, “To write a book one day and see it in all the libraries so everybody can read it.” Man, the look on her face. Still today, I smile inside every time I think of her.
As a kid growing up in Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburg, I used to spend a lot of time sitting along the banks of the Rappahannock River. Always equipped with a pen and pad, I would sit and watch the water flow downstream, then jot down my thoughts and dreams. And through the years, those little notes and thoughts I’d jotted down by the river eventually evolved into my published works today.
We’re fast approaching 2018, and it’s been over forty-plus years since I had those Rappahannock dreams. Today, I’m so honored and grateful to the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library in New York, The Public Library of Des Moines, The Central Rappahannock Regional Library in Fredericksburg, Virginia, ect. for having my novels as part of their library book collection. I guess dreams do come true, huh? I sincerely hope that all of your dreams have (or will) come to fruition as well.
And, I’m happy to announce that, in 2 weeks, I’ll be appearing at the John J. Wright Educational and Cultural Center, 7565 Courthouse Road, in Spotsylvania County on Saturday, December 9th, from 10am to 12noon for a Book Signing Presentation Event. *(Go to Facebook Events for details) I would love to see all of my classmates, especially from the (Spotsylvania Sr. High School) Class of ’79, book lovers, readers, friends and loved ones there. Hope you can make it!
More at https://www.amazon.com/author/randolphcamp

Reflections: The Longest Walk

There used to be this dirt road in Spotsylvania County called County Road 715. Years ago this old road ran straight by our house and led to the edge of a paved blacktop where the school bus would pick up me and my brothers, and my cousins who lived on Route 715. Back then it seemed like it was a long walk to the bus stop in the early mornings, but actually it was only about a six-minute walk.


I remember one particular morning walking to the bus stop and I was practicing what I was going to say to this girl that I really liked in my class and had written a ‘Do You Like Me?’ note to the previous night. She sat one row away from me in class and I always liked the way she would run and giggle and say “You can’t catch me!” when we had recess outside. Although I’d carefully written the note and repeatedly rehearsed my lines when I was going to hand it to her, I fell way short of being a romantic Romeo as I got painfully nervous and talked myself out of giving her the note and I never uttered one single word to her that whole entire day at school.


When the bus dropped us off after school that day it was my longest walk ever. I still had that stupid note folded in my pocket, which I’d carried around all day at school. As my brothers and cousins got off the bus laughing and talking about their day at school and their plans for the rest of the evening, I just hung my head down and kicked at the rocks and mounds of dirt in the road as if I was kicking myself in the butt for being so scared, stupid and shy. About halfway down the road I got tired of having that stupid note in my pocket so I took it out, crumbled it up and tossed in the bushes along the dirt road. It’s the year 2017 now and it’s been nearly 46 years since the night I wrote that ‘Do You Like Me?’ note.


Ironically, the young girl who captured my heart back in elementary school is now one of my friends on Facebook (but she doesn’t know that I had a crush on her though). And, by the way, the old dirt road, County Road 715, that I grew up on in Spotsylvania, well today, it’s a paved road and it was renamed Camp Town Road quite a few years ago. – Randolph Randy Camp


More at https://www.amazon.com/author/randolphcamp

Drop A Coat, Warm Your Heart

Somewhere near us, at this very moment, regardless of our location, there is someone on the street without a home and without a coat. In this sometimes cruel, coldhearted world we can all do a little something to warm our hearts. As we approach the winter season, some businesses and non-profit organizations will conduct winter coat drives for the homeless and those in need. It warms my heart when I go through my closet and pick out an old heavy coat or two, in which I no longer wear, and drop it off at a local homeless shelter.


Most places that are willing to accept used coats will have it heat-treated first before they actually hand it out. Please double-check in your local area for the clothing donation policy at the city mission, teen drop-in center, homeless shelter, or the thrift stores that supports the local soup kitchens. Whether I’m at St. Vincent DePaul’s Soup Kitchen near Main and Utica in Buffalo, at the Bethel Mission near 6th and University in Des Moines, or down on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, it absolutely breaks my heart to see the rising number of homeless, especially the homeless teens sleeping on the sidewalks and under bridges. When I was living in Los Angeles I witnessed a particular transit bus being used during the wee hours of the night, whereby the homeless could ride and sleep in peace just as long they don’t bother the other passengers.

 We can all do a little something. Drop a coat and warm your own heart. – Randolph Randy Camp
More at https://www.amazon.com/author/randolphcamp