traveling that same stretch of road

last week as i drove down the same stretch of road that i've traveled hundreds, probably thousands of times before i felt nostalgia wash over me. i went back to the place where i grew up. where my parents still happily live.

i thought about all of the things both good and not so great that has happened to me and that i dealt with growing up. driving down certain stretches of this road my heart pinged with pain from the thought of a fight with a former lover or i giggled to myself in remember something silly that my best friend and i did.

i come from a very, very small town. in fact, it really isn't a town at all. there is only one little country grocery store that also sells gas. a couple of stop signs but no stop lights. there aren't many people. and as the saying goes, if you don't know what you're doing at least your neighbors do. :) yes, it was a small town indeed.

when traveling with my parents as a child, i used to be ashamed of telling people where i was from because i thought people would look down on us "west virginia hillbillies." but once i got older and started traveling more on my own i realized that it wasn't so bad. there were places and people just like us everywhere.

now i am proud to call west virginia my home. we may not be a rich state and our politics may be a little skewed but really, who's isn't?? i have not always called west virginia home. i have lived elsewhere before and will probably live elsewhere again. but i will always call west virginia my home.

since i unfortunately didn't get a photo of my own: image credit