West Virginia is often taken for granted. My West Virginia has been placed among the bottom of every health and social happiness scale in America. My West Virginia cries out from streams of fresh water and rich soil to be noticed and appreciated. Her people are sheltered in the bosom of her green mountains and yet this shelter has been mistaken for uneducated, poor, dirty and less than. I want to introduce you to My West Virginia.
I am not going to quote statistical data for you about West Virginia. We all know quite well that our economic state was depressed long before President Obama and President Bush. Or how most of us are depressed in the winter, you could argue that comes from our lifestyle or you may say it is because of the vitamin D deficiency so many of us here in West Virginia suffer from due to our hard winters and lack of sunshine. I like to believe we make up for that depression when the weather breaks. We all know the heartaches and misery reported from West Virginia. We see it daily in national media news, quick jabs at our people our state and yes our cousins. So much has been done in the wake of civil liberties for the diversity of our people in these United States, yet discrimination and bigotry about our people are commonplace and widely accepted.
What exactly is My West Virginia? My West Virginia is a front porch. My friend Elise visited with our family a couple of summers ago and what she took home from West Virginia was our love of the front porch. A front porch is more than a floor and some railing, it is a gathering spot. It is where children rest because they still play outside. It is where our friends gather for cookouts and cold beer, where grandmothers rock their grandbabies to sleep on the red porch swing, where your wet nosed best friend lies waiting for you to return home at the front door
My West Virginia is a mountain. It is green and lush in the summer and it sticks to you on a hike. The sweat beads up on your forehead and you hear the birds, the water, you feel more importantly. You feel alive with God’s creation. You breathe in the wild air that Emerson spoke of. You take your children to these mountains and you educate them on vegetation, the wildlife and how to survive if you lose your way. You teach them that when the world is pressuring you to do more, see more and be more that the mountains will welcome you back and give you rest in her shelter. It is full of color in the fall and not only do the leaves look like they are set on fire but your heart catches fire and falls in love with her beauty. It is a cold playground for sleds and skis and any other means of transportation down a snow covered hill. For example, kayaks, canoes, trash can lids. It is a new beginning in the spring as it bursts with new life and reminds your soul that you too can yet begin again.
My West Virginia is river. It runs clean and in the spring it is the color of the Caribbean. It is exhilarating in a kayak and a cooling welcome in the warm summer sun. It is a gathering spot of friends and families. It is learning to tie on a hook and bait it. It is where my dad learned to swim by tying empty milk jugs to his body to float and then gradually cutting each one away until he could maintain the float for himself. It is an evening dinner of fresh trout. It is a minnow trap and the sound of bullfrogs singing you to sleep under the stars at night. The river washes you clean and restores your spirit.
My West Virginia is a farmer’s field where you cut hay at least twice a season if it is good. It is your family and friends bailing that hay and filling the barn for the winter. It is the cold beer after a long day of work. It is food on the table after the harvest. It is a tailgate and quilt where you learn about life giggle at possibility. It is a corn row to hide from your friends. It is a pumpkin to carve in the fall. It is the place you ask your grandparents to plant cheerios and mashed potatoes when you are four. It is the dirt that you long to put your hands in after the people that taught you to plant that soil have passed on. It is moving the crop to the canner where you make tomato sauce in the kitchen, test it right off the spoon and put in quart jars for the winter.
My West Virginia is dirt road that holds more memories than your family photo album. It is where you learned to drive a stick shift. It is where you went on Friday night with your boyfriend and you thought in that moment that all was right in the world. It is where you smoked your first cigarette, hung up the four wheel drive, got your heart broken, made new friendships. It is where your little boy climbs on your lap and takes the wheel while you handle the gas and brake. It is where you know your children will share in the same memories you made and you will be scared and happy all at the same time. It is where you will ride in the front seat of the pickup with your grandfather and put wild turkeys on the roost and it is where you will drive your Jeep behind the hearse that leads him to his final resting place.
My West Virginia is friendship. My West Virginia is prayer. My West Virginia is exhilarating. My West Virginia is the prettiest place I have ever been. My West Virginia is strong. My West Virginia is kind. My West Virginia is waiting. My West Virginia is singing her song to you, won’t you listen?
Stay Wild & Wonderful,
Amanda
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