Allow me to introduce myself.
I am from a small town in southern West Virginia. Growing up, I had one sister. She's about 3 years older than me. We were never very close. But we do share that "sister bond".
My father was an underground coal miner until he became "disabled" when I was in kindergarten. I say it like that b/c he can still hunt, ride fourwheelers, and take a trip to Canada every summer to hunt and fish. Obviously, I am not his biggest fan. Maybe we'll talk about that one day. Not today. I'm hungry and I don't want to go on forever about it. B/c I will.
So, my family didn't have a lot of money. Sometimes we didn't have enough money. But we always had a home (I lived in the same house until I was 20), food and clothing. I never felt poor. My mother was a master at carrying that burden. My sister was and still is a bit of a perfectionist. She would stay up all night cleaning our house if one of her friends were supposed to visit the next day. She would wipe down walls, clean out the fridge, just go nuts. Our house was not nasty. Lived in, sure. But as clean as everyone else's home.
I never knew that we were any different. I never made the connection that neither of my parents worked and what that must look like to our neighbors. But everyone in our community was good to us. We were all family. I had a nice childhood. As an adult now, I think back to the house I grew up in. It may have been 1000 sq. feet. One bathroom, 2 bedrooms. Just a box, really. My husband and I bought our first house this year. It has 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a large kitchen, a huge den w/ a fireplace and a large living room. I sometimes catch myself thinking about buying another house in a few years b/c the bedrooms aren't large enough in this one. Crazy, huh? I didn't even have a bedroom growing up. The room my sister and I shared was pretty much her's. I just slept there. And we shared a bed until she left. It never really bothered me. I never thought it was strange. When I did start to want more privacy as a teenager, she left for college. Worked out pretty good. And I worry that my house w/ it's huge yard won't be big enough. We don't even have the first kid yet. Wonder who I'm trying to impress, huh?
Anyway, if anyone reads this, I'll be surprised. I'm basically doing this b/c I miss expressing myself through writing. And to show that people from southern WV aren't quite as "hillbilly" as you may think. Or maybe I am, but I just don't know it.
I would love to hear comments.
Take Care
