A lot of my family is from West Virginia. Most of the branches of my family tree are well rooted in the United States, having entered before the nation was actually a nation. And, several of the families found their way into western Virginia. And that, of course, eventually became West Virginia. When they traveled out that way, the lands were still on the frontier of the Untied States – wilderness, uncharted, wild.

When the heat begins to settle down here in Florida, I start to think about the cool hills of West Virginia. I was actually born and raised in Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. I did, however, head to West Virginia for college and then even after moving back to the DC suburbs later on, I still found myself pulled back to WV to work at a publishing house. I’ve been in Florida 10 years now and although I love it, I miss the lush rolling hills, the gentle rivers, the miles and miles of wilderness, and the sense of togetherness you feel in WV.

I suppose what got me thinking about WV was when I came across the personal web page of Jennifer Keilp. That got me thinking about the fact that I need to get my flight booked for my daughter and I to go see my dad in WV, and that got me tot thinking about floating down the Cheat Rover in the middle of July, the scent of moss and rover in the air, cool breezes escaping the dark shade of the forests on the shore. *sigh*

Maybe one day I will be like the Snow Birds who live here in the Winter and up north in the summer.