Almost Heaven, West Virgnia

A beautiful misty morning along the banks of the Shenandoah in Harpers Ferry.
I lived off of this river and loved waking up to misty mornings: they were really magical!!!

I am not from Utah. Just knowing me, you know I am not a Utah girl. I refuse to be a Cookie Cutter,and actually broke the mold long ago. I am somewhat of a mutt. I was born in Ohio, grew up in West Virginia, and lived shortly in Southern Florida till we moved to Utah my senior year of high school. I am on Facebook, which to me is an interesting site. I can go back and look up and add friends that I have not seen in a long time. The most interesting thing about where I grew up, in the pan handle of WV, is that there was SUCH a blend of people that I went to school with. Utah is pretty dry on the black culture, a culture that I love and have some very close friends. In fact, when we moved to Utah, one of the girls in our ward told us that she did not really know any black people, but if she did, she bet they were a lot like us. I took this as a compliment. But in going through pictures of people I went to grade school with, Jr. High, and most of high school, it is strange to see where they are in life. A lot of the people I knew drink a lot, and seem to have a lot of pictures of them drinking posted in Facebook. Now you know I'm about as dry as they come (at least besides my personal vice of Diet DP!!!) and I have a lot of family on my Dad's side that drink, but it kind of makes me sad seeing some of the pictures. I know that where we grew up, that unless you made about a 30 minute drive to a larger city, or drove the 1 1/2 hour drive into Washington D.C. that there really was not a lot to do except drink or go bowling. I think my disappointment stems to the fact that these people I was friends with to me are still the kids I went to high school with, not the 20 something year olds that are allowed to party and drink now legally. And part of the disappointment stems from how truly magical it was growing up there. This was a place you could explore, whether in the little creek that ran beside our house, or the Shenandoah river that ran in front, or the forest or fields where Martha Washington's mother grew up. It makes me long for those Golden days.

This is so beautiful!!! Can you see why I miss it so much???

I miss West Virginia still, and either next year or the year after, I will take Mike back and show him my home, well, better my stomping grounds. But for now, I will just long for the beautiful rolling hills, that soon enough will be turning to every gorgeous shade imaginable and long for those days of craft shows and harvest festivals and pumpkin patches. I will just have to make do with my memories of walking around darling little towns like Harpers Ferry and Shepherds Town, and hope someday I can show and share my love with my little family.