OK, but mind you it was back in 97-99 so things might have changed since then. We lived in New Market, just west of Jefferson City and just East of Strawberry Plains. I grew up in the country and wanted to get back to that way of life after years in FL and wanted my children to experience it and grow up with good people with good morals and values.......well after a while in Jefferson County I realized I didn't want THAT country.
It took 20 minutes to get to a grocery store, and that was ok, but the grocery store was dirty and the majority of the people I was shopping with seemed very poor and very ........ I don't know how to put it into words. I guess the fact that ladies in their 40's that were so thrilled that their 15/16 year old girl was now pregnant and the boyfriend was now moving in to so the baby would have a daddy, they were all going to be living with them so that they can help them out, but they were so thrilled to be a grandma. Now mind, at first I liked the attitude considering the alternative, but after I heard that same conversation (from different people) about 20 times, well I realized this is what a lot of the teenagers aspire too. There seemed to be a very high number of people on disability from the government. A few conversations I had with teachers at the school led me to believe that a high number of children in that school also had aspirations in life to "draw" when they got older. I guess seeing a lot of 2nd and 3rd generations want nothing more for themselves than to do as little as possible in life to get by, well I didn't want that attitude to seem acceptable to my children. I want them to have options and choose what makes them happy, not "the norm as everyone else". Sure I can teach them that but you have to admit, if they are surrounded by that attitude day after day, it is hard to over come it at home. There is something to the phrase" It takes a village to raise a child", well, I wanted a different village is all.
Don't get me wrong, the people were as nice as nice could be for the most part, would give you the last shirt off their back if they thought you needed it. We made some really nice friends and some felt more like family. There was also that good ol boy network, the bus driver was also the town Constable, fire chief and had a seat on the city council. Which seemed to work just fine there, was not an issue, I thought it was kinda cool. There were some very close minded people who did not like us off the bat because we weren't natives. We bent over back wards to assimilate. But hey, at least we were of the right color for them, so they tolerated us, (that was a very few, but they were there) Even if we weren't the right religion, which to a few was worse than being the wrong color. Granted, those last few was not the norm, but it wasn't just one or two. It just wasn't the town for us. We needed just a bit more to do and available to us without driving for an hour. Better schools. After being in TN for a while and learning about a lot more areas, I found that there are many places that I could be in the country but be close enough to a larger town or city without having to fight Knoxville traffic or be out in the boonies. I personally wanted something more in between.
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07-31-2007, 05:49 PM
Thanks mb
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