Western Pennsylvania. Beautiful scenery. Rich heritage. Neighborly people. Not much to do when you're a teenager.



Throughout my early to mid-teens, I was convinced that when I was old enough, I was going to move to California. Why California? I don't know. We all know the mess it's in currently and the problems that constantly plague the state. I think it had something to do with the Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazines that came to my house each month, shoving down my throat svelte teenage girls and muscular teenage boys having fun playing volleyball on the beach and attending great parties. So, if I could move to California, I could have fun like that too. And be thin like that. And have a boyfriend like that. Don't judge me.



In my mid teens, I looked at Univ of California You-Name-It. Too expensive. Too far. Blah. Well then, graduate school and/or a job could be in California. I'd graduate from a PA university, then move to California.



Then a magical thing happened. I met and fell in love with a boy whose was also born and raised in Western Pennsylvania. And he was perfectly happy staying in Western Pennsylvania. Well, HOT DAMN, so was I. Cali-what? Never heard of the place.

We both attended and graduated from a Western Pennsylvania university, got married, moved into a house aboutthisfar from where hubby grew up, and worked in (you guessed it!) Western Pennsylvania. By this point California was very, very far from my mind. We were making our lives here and I was very happy.

In September of 2007, we had our son, J. He will be a born and bred Western Pennsylvania boy.

A few night ago, I sat in the grass in the backyard watching J and M play. I glanced around at the trees and the hills. Good ole' Pennsylvania. And then I glanced around at what was closer to me - the barn where we've just recently started a collection of animals, the pond where we swim and play, our house that we love, the swingset where Jack love to swing 'as high as the sky' as he giggles uncontrollably, and a yard that allows our son to run and play.

This is our Pennsylvania. This is our life. There is no where we'd rather be. Our family's roots run deep in Western Pennsylvania, and now M and I are adding and spreading out those roots further.

I expect the day to come that one of my children will say, "Mom, it's so BOOOOORING around here. I can't wait until I grow up and move away." And I'll go pack their bags. And my heart will hurt a little. But, deep down I'll know that this region will ALWAYS be his home and his heart.