We’re from the country. Not really. We’re from the South. Not really. We were born and raised in the suburbs of Louisville, KY. Now, if you’re in New York they think that all of Kentucky is the country. Louisville is in Kentucky, therefore, in the country. But if you’re in Louisville you know that it’s not in the country. Yes, there are areas that appear rural. But you have to go a long way out of Louisville to find the country. So, we weren’t raised in the country.
But we visited the country when we were growing up. My dad’s uncle had a farm in Arkansas. They lived in the country. We loved going there. When I was in college I went to the country to visit a girl friend. She lived in the country. In fact, as an adult I used to visit her all the time. Her home felt like home to me. As a matter of fact, I ended up marrying her brother and moved to the farm where she was raised. It is now my home. So I wasn’t raised in the country but I’m there now. And I’m sure that my heart has always been there.
Right before I married her brother my sister and her family came down to visit. It was a sort of family get-together. My intended had a niece who was the same age as my niece. They were both about 7 or 8 years old. At one point my niece said to his niece, “you sound awful country”. His niece answered, “well, duh, I was born in the country and I live in the country.” My sister still calls her the “duh” girl. She still laughs about that. That’s just the way this niece was, and is.
On one of my trips home I was spending some time with just my brother and sister. Personally, I like spending time with them. It’s like we’re family again. When you include kids and spouses you end up with outlaws and in-laws. I prefer it to just be the 3 of us. Because in reality that’s all we have of our life together. Both of our parents are dead. Yeah, we still have some extended family but it’s pretty cool to just get together, the three of us.
When we were getting ready to leave I was hugging my brother and he said “appreciate ya!” Now, I didn’t bust him on it because he meant it, but I wanted to say “what country did you just crawl out of?” Because that is a country saying. You’re not going to hear anyone in New York City or Chicago, Illinois say that. You might hear it in LaGrange, Kentucky, where he works. Shoot, you wouldn’t hear that in Fancy Farm, Kentucky, where I live. But I decided that I liked the sound of it and even though I haven’t incorporated it into my conversational vocabulary I’m keeping it in one of those file folders in my mind. You never know when you’re going to need a phrase like that.
Being raised in the suburbs isn’t so bad. But growing up in the country is great! Just ask my kids.