Home

There was a video clip sent to me via a friend on Facebook a couple days ago. Needless to say the clip stirred some chatter among the people from my high school. It was the Governor of WV asking people to "come home to WV". The words really spoke to me. I am sure my fellow WHS classmates would be suprised to hear this, but sometimes I really long for home.

First, let me start by saying that home is where my family is. Jay and I have moved so much that I have come to the conclusion that as long as my family is safe, healthy and together, that is all that matters. We have lived in great cities and we have been back to WV. No matter where we were, we were happy.

I think about home and my thoughts immediately go to the morals and values that Jay and I were raised with. I think about the drive my husband has to work hard and to teach our children that life doesn't always come easy. I wonder if my loyalty to putting my family first would have come if I were raised in a different place. And I also wonder if I would be the compassionate and generous human being I am today if I didn't truly know the devastation poverty can bring.

But the longing I have for home may be from the simple fact that "home" isn't really there for us in the sense it used to be. Jay's parents are gone and now it's just not the same. My kids won't ever again get to play on the same lawn that my husband took his first steps on. There will be no more cook outs by Grammy and Papaw's pool and no more parties where all the family could come and hang out with us when we came for a visit. Oh, and no more snipe hunting up on the hill in the back yard. =( I didn't have the same upbringing as Jay did, so the memories of spending time in that house (especially with our children) are some of the best I have. And, losing that house is like losing a link to our families heritage.

I doubt we will ever have the desire to return to WV, but we have said that once before and God had another plan for us. When he led us back there for 3 years, we went kicking and screaming. But those 3 years were a blessing. We got to spend valuable time with family and my husband got to be there for his sick father. My kids had the same privilages there as they do here (we lived in the city then). But, to be honest, shooting bbs in the creek and riding 4 wheelers in the mountains can't be beat! Oh, and sledding behind jeeps in the 6 inches of snow rocks! Texas is great, but let's face it, we don't get that much snow here. =(

So, even though you will hear me crack a joke or two about being raised in WV (like the phones!), know that the saying "you can take the girl out of WV but you can't take the WV out of the girl" probably applies to me. And to tell the truth, I like the WV girl that I am and I really love the WV boy that I married!

So, luckily we still have some family there and we have an excuse to go visit. It's a different way of life there, but my kids need to experience that. Sometimes walking around the hill and looking at "snake valley" with your Great Gran or shooting bbs in the creek behind Papaw's house is way more educational than what my kids can learn in these wonderful (and I mean that, I really do) Texas schools.