Home to West Virginia?

We had a pretty good Thanksgiving in West Virginia. My Mom and I did a lot of shopping and Oh, the eating. I could live on water and air for a couple weeks and be happy for it. I know FOR SURE I don't want to eat out any time soon.

My little one got sick Thursday night and was throwing up for the rest of the weekend. He still went hunting, though! He would just get sick in the evenings. It seems to have finally run its course and he woke up this morning asking for pancakes. It is a good thing, he was very close to being dragged to doctor. He hadn't had anything to eat since Friday.

I was pretty sad when we left WV to come home. It was really hard. I had such a good time hanging out with everyone and seeing the mountains and just relaxing. The atmosphere is just so different. The people are much more, well, like us. Frankly, we ENJOY hanging out with "good ole country folk." It bothers me a lot around here when people act like we "escaped" the backwoods or something equally dire.

I read West Virginia Magazine while I was in. The focus of the issue was "Home for the Holidays...for Good." It was all about people who left WV for one reason or another and found a way to come home. It talked about family, the mountains, the parks and outdoors and all the wonderful parts of WV. It was totally lacking in all the reasons we CAN'T go home. I kept reading it and thinking, find us a job. A job that pays well and is secure and we'd be back in a minute. I was sad reading it and then angry. They made me want to come home. Something I've been fighting for over a year. And I've been doing it very well, thankyouverymuch.

I KNOW we can't go back. At least not yet. Professional jobs are scarce in WV. And when they are there, they don't pay very much. I went to the grocery store with my Mom and was SHOCKED at the prices. I had forgotten how expensive everything could be. Eggs were $.50 more a dozen, milk $1 more, and meat was crazy expensive. Why, in one of the poorest states in the nation, is everything so much more expensive? My husband says it has to do with the ability to get things into the state.

On the up side, it made me appreciate, a LOT the things we have here. Groceries are a lot less here. It really is nice not to have to drive 1/2 an hour just to get to a mall or restaurant. Takeout. Starbucks. And also, I really love our house and yard. It's flat!

We are happy here. When I pulled in the driveway and came in the house, I felt warm and welcome. I felt at home. I miss WV terribly and some day I really hope we can go back. I really do. I miss the mountains, people on 4-wheelers, cammo clothing, neighbors that actually talk to you, country roads, and my family. I don't miss the contaminated drinking water (seriously, they were studying our county to see how the C8 affected us), polluted rivers and the "shelter in place" calls from all the chemical plants. I don't miss the acid in the rain from the chemical plants eating the paint off the car. I don't miss the expensive groceries.

I'd like to go back to WV some day. Probably not back to Charleston and the sourrounding valley. Maybe Morgantown. I know it will be a while. Right now, I like that we can afford to go on vacation, buy a few extra groceries, and can get and do a few extra things during the year. My husband's job is thriving and he is thriving. He's not constantly being beaten down by lack of work and lack of funding. For now, this works for us. The sacrifice we'd have to make to go home is too great.

I do want to make more of an effort to get into WV to see family. I refuse to let a few hours get between all of us. My family LOVES our son to pieces. Aunts, uncles, cousins all adore him. And I've been letting a few hours of driving get in the way of that.

Now, if you happen to be from WV and are trying to get home, here's as good a place to start as any. It was in the magazine. Home To West Virginia.

As for us, we're planning a week-long camping trip to the WV mountains this summer, a cabin on the South Fork of the Potomac river in the Fall with a trip to Cass Railroad, and possibly a skiing trip to Snowshoe next winter. We're going to enjoy the best parts of WV without the sacrifice it would take to move back. For now.