ruralblonde

Living in the sticks.

If you were raised anywhere that had a stop-light…you are more “city” than me.  Not to say that there is ANYTHING wrong being raised in bumblef*ck, it’s just not an ideal situation for someone with a go-getta mentality. 

A little bit about my rural hell:

We have no stop-lights.  There is no McDonald’s in the immediate area.  Walmart is 20 minutes away and you will probably see an Amish buggy during your trip.  The closest movie theater is at least 30 minutes away (unless it’s summer time and you can go to the drive-in on the other side of the mountain!) and any good mall will take you over an hour to get to.  The area school district graduates less than 100 kids per year…and less than HALF of them go to college…and less than HALF of those entering college actually graduate.  It’s a blue-collar town of hard workers…but we have the same scum that you’ll find everywhere.  There is very little crime, but that’s changing.  There are a billion churches…and near one you’ll find a bar.  There is one young-adult hang out bar that ends up closing down due to too many people…by 10pm.  I could honestly go on and on. 

The problem with this rural hell…if you don’t WANT to get out…you never will.  People have very close-minded ideals and aren’t open to change.  Getting pregnant in high school is common.  Drug rates are high because there is nothing else to do.  It’s just not a great environment for someone who has dreams and aspirations…it’s more of an abyss.

I will say one thing for my little rural hell:  MOST people will do anything to help someone out.  There are always those few who are just assholes, but for the most part, it’s a help-me-help-you community.  The only problem with this “helpfulness”…everyone knows your business.  You can’t take a shit funny in rural hell without someone hearing about it.  If you’re any sort of private person, this can be extremely frustrating until you just give up and say you don’t care anymore…let them say what they want. 

I swore I’d leave rural hell when I graduated high school, and I did.  Penn State was awesome but distracting, and the end result wasn’t so hot…but I learned a lot of life lessons there.  Moving back to rural hell was the hardest thing I’ve had to do…and still living there, I hate to love it.  My family is here and I’ll never “forget where I came from”…but I wouldn’t invite anyone to move here.  I like to think of it as “the land that life forgot”…and if you can get by without seeing a mullet during the span of your day here…it’s a miracle.

Living in the s…