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Well, I was born in a small town and I lived in a small town...
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A small town may be the life for John Mellencamp, but I get a severe case of claustrophobia, when I go back to PA to visit for more than two weeks. I do go to visit, because I have my sister, Cindy and her family there who I see. BTW, these former WWF Wrestlers in my top pic here "ain't no" close relation to me, but I reckon they could be distant cousins:).
Southern Chester County PA, is where I was born and raised. My original hometown is Oxford, PA. It's thirty miles east of Lancaster (Amish Country) and close to sixty miles south of Philadelphia. It's very close to Maryland and Delaware. My former hometown is quite small. The population is close to 4000, now. There were about 3000 or less when I was there.
It seemed that almost everybody I knew in Oxford, knew somebody or had a relative from Mountain City, Tennessee, (my ancestry is German-Irish and my grand parents were from PA, VA, and MD, not TN). My sister told me that many other families moved from Mountain City, to Oxford in the 1950's, to find work, that's why many people still had family members down there. And I always thought and referred to Mountain City as being our inbred sister town.
My mother and I went to Mountain City, TN when I was twelve, with her friend from church to visit her parents. After hearing about Mountain City for so many years prior, I honestly thought it was an actual city, about the size of Atlanta. Boy, was I misled. It's about the size of Oxford and it had a Dollar General store there too, just like Oxford and other stores and buildings that looked quite similar, except the town is surrounded by mountains.
I spent my first eighteen years in Oxford and grew up with two brothers and two sisters and their families. I was the baby of the family and my one sister who is the closest to my age is ten years older than I am. I now have stepbrothers and stepsisters too. My stepfather Don died back in 1988. Don had a son, Michael who lost his life in Vietnam. (Michael's website link is on my Favorite Links Page.)
My mother later remarried and I now have another stepfather. Unfortunately throughout time, people in my family found themselves too busy working and moving around. They aren't that close anymore. I was never really close to anybody, nor do I stay in contact as much, except with my one sister.
My oldest sister, Sherry, is a registered nurse in Delaware. My other sister, Cindy, works for Herr's Snack Foods in Pennsylvania. My brother, Steve works for Terumo Medical Corporation in Maryland and my other brother, Jeff is a jewelry maker in Pennsylvania.
"As long as there are Baby Boomers around, I'll never have to worry about growing old, for they refuse to let me grow up."
-Tina Nichols 2000
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Even still to this day, I get picked on from time to time about coming from a Redneck background. My friend from West Virginia, tells me I'm more of a hick than he'll ever hope to be. Now, that's bad.
I had to think about what he said. I don't listen to country music religiously, nor was I raised in a trailer park. Never had an Elvis sighting and I can't say a UFO ever abducted me. I never had the experience of being in a tornado, so I can't claim one ripped the siding off the double wide, I don't have. My husband's an Aussie, so I'm pretty sure he isn't a relative:). Can't say I ever wanted to be on the Springer show, and God knows, I'd rather bungee jump into a frozen lake than to live in my own private hell, of raising a bunch of screaming kids whose fathers wear mullets and are known as the town drunks.
But then I recall being on the Reno news once, talking about NASCAR and the late Dale Earnhardt's tragedy...(so sad). I find that I'm most comfortable in blue jeans, sweatshirts, and hiking boots. I prefer Coca-Cola to Pepsi and love sweet, southern, fresh brewed iced tea. John Waters' movies are my favorite, (especially the older films with Divine, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole). I also love Cracker Barrel restaurants and would prefer to live in the south, if I stayed in the US for the rest of my life. So, I guess that means, I'm only a half-assed Redneck:).
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As for friends, I still keep in touch with a few from high school. It's kind of hard to these days, because we have our lives and families of our own that keep us busy.
I make friends everywhere I go, but since I move around a lot, myself, I really don't have too many close friends who live nearby. It can be mentally draining getting settled and making lots of friends, only to up and move again. Perhaps my opinion would be different if I did not have access to a PC or a telephone. Also having experiences with those who are needy and have a tendency to smother a person has made me somewhat leery of others.
"Associate with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company."
- Washington
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