I'm still a Mountaineer

 As upset as I am with the politics of West Virginia--I'm still a West Virginian.

After over 40 years of living outside the Mountain State, I can still do my West Virginia accent if you ask me.

Accents in the wrong places and every sentence ending at an upbeat--like a question. I can do it. It will make you crazy.

My life in West Virginia was full of wonder.

I met Bern in high school. I wandered the mountains alone. I loved the people I knew. I was kept safe there.

I went to college at W.V.U. and loved every moment of being in Morgantown. Both our children were born in Charleston.

So, in spite of the Republican take over of my once Democratic state and in spite of my home county going from 100,000 in my youth to 24,000 today, in spite of the poverty and right-wingness of it all--I'm still a Mountaineer.

I miss the West Virginia of my youth and young adulthood. 

It will never be back.

Alas and alack.

But I'm still a Mountaineer!!!