With humility, wry humor, and a gift for storytelling, Buddy Bowman spins out an engaging recollection of the vagaries, wonders, and revelations of his adolescence in upstate South Carolina in the 1940s and '50s. His amusing tales, reminisces, and nostalgic ruminations perceptively portray the way of life of proud, tough people of the rural and small town south, and the trials and tribulations of mill workers during the postwar years. In every town and mill village his family moved through, his innocent optimism and gratitude were rewarded with adventures, generous people, and lifelong memories. Bowman's entertaining stories and brilliant reflections of a simpler time include autobiographical sketches of families, friends, mentors, heroes, and heroines that celebrate the heartwarming and positive effects of caring people. Throughout this humorous and poignant memoir, there are enchantments and insights that will bring laughter and appreciation for a past and a people who found strength and support in community and each other. And for a boy who went barefoot every May First.