The Life That Surrounds You

Bou posted a great piece about enjoying those things around you that someone somewhere may never get to do.

It is an awesome post and one you should all read. She asks:

"What is it you have around you, in your state or your area of the country, that you have done, that you do or see frequently, that some may take for granted, that you feel certain that there are people in America who will NEVER ever experience?"

The comments to this post rock! I've done a number of things on the list and intend to try to do others. I thought I'd take a second here and answer that question (far better, hopefully, than in my comment)

I live in Western Pennsylvania. We have rolling hills, forests, farmland, lakes, rivers, streams, and history. Lots of history.

Here, where I make my home, I live on the George Washington Trail. It is where, at the age of 21, George Washington set out to deliver a message to the French, demanding that they evacuate the area immediately. He nearly drowned in the Allegheny, was fired upon by Indians in my little neck o' the woods and nearly died from exposure to the elements.

We can walk or drive the trail and imagine what it must have been like back then.

We also have the remnants of the steel city. See - Western PA is an immigrant area where the wealthy steel barrons had houses up on the top of the hills and all the blue collar workers built in tight communities down the sides of those hills.

Because of this, we are rich in ethnic flavor. We can get fresh pierogies bathed in butter and onions - mmmmm. We can get fresh pretzels, we can get kielbasa and sausages like no body's business. We go to the bakery and get kolachi and cookies you just can't get at most bakeries. We have greek festivals and polish festivals and irish festivals and croation and ukranian etc . . . We have amish and with it dutch cooking, we have all this. Now, I know cities like New York are rich in this ethnic diversity as well, but I don't live in New York. I live in podunk Western PA.

We say pop and yinz (I don't) and we put french fries and coleslaw on our hoagies. It is great!

And I know that somewhere out there is someone who has never experienced any of this. The three rivers, the Pittsburgh valley, Lake Erie, the Allegheny Mountains, four seasons. We have all that here. I am thankful for it and I try not to take it for granted! And I would hope that everyone could have a chance to experience it.

I brought my family back to this part of the state so my son could grow up here. Raise a cow or a pig or a horse. Learn to enjoy the sweet smell of a summer night, be able to see the stars in the sky unobstructed by city lights or street lamps, hunt for fireflies by the glow of the full moon, fish all day on a quiet lake or play roly-poly by rolling down the hillside.

Perhaps he'll swing out over a creek on a rope swing, or jump out of a hay loft to the soft but scratchy hay below, or throw stale bread to the carp at the spillway, or crash a dirt bike into a mud pit. I did all these things and more as a kid and I hope he can enjoy them too.

See, part of enjoying what surrounds you, and appreciating it as there are so many out there who can't enjoy the same, is recognizing it and sharing it with others.

So, if any of you are headed my way, stop on in for some kolachi and a nice sunset over a hay field! I'd love to share it with you.