Step 1: Invite a friend to come visit you.
Step 2: Show them around.
You will appreciate the place you are living and remember why you like living there in the first place.
I am always surprised at how well these two steps work. Yes, I know Green Bank is beautiful. Yes I know that Oberlin is a haven of beautiful bare foot fascinating people. But it's easier to remember if a friend who is seeing them for the first time says it first. My lovely friend Rachel's Green Bank visit was just what I needed to shake those end of summer blues, when all of my PC friends are back in college and people keep asking me "When are you going back to school?" (out of curiosity of course, but after a while it starts to feel like they're asking me "Why aren't you in school you slacker? Why didn't you go to WVU you weirdo?" And of course, in my case, the answer is more complicated than saying something like "September 2nd.").
So the lovely Rachel came to visit. My parents are taking my younger brother to college (freshman orientation... welcome to Camp College!), so we've had the house to ourselves. We spent an unhealthy amount of time in the hot tub, cooked in dresses, explored the universe at the NRAO, swam in chilly Deer Creek, took a leisurely stroll through Beartown, and went to Buckeye Bend Books, an incredible used bookstore in Buckeye (I found an obscure depressing book about Appalachia that's been on my list, and Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure). Rachel's skillful eye spotted a thrift store in Marlinton which had an amazing belt selection and a room full of ridiculous dresses with lace and old fashioned patterns that girls like Rachel and I like to wear (we're sort of predictable in that way. The dresses were actually in the room that the owners of the store recommended we change in. I think they had us pegged from the moment we walked in).
The bottom line is that Green Bank and Pocahontas County are pretty darn cool. But the old feet are getting itchy (and not from trying on second-hand shoes) and I need to leave ASAP. Luckily, it looks like I'll have a place to live in Whitesburg. It's a cute little house in a holler. I'll have to manage my rent and utilities like a big girl. This is what I've been missing by going to a college where you have to live in dorms.
It's almost onward and upward and Southward for me. When I get bummed out about being in Whitesburg, come visit me (although I'm not sure if this will happen, as I have lived there during January and survived). In the meantime, I'm going to go enjoy Pocahontas County and walk my dog by some telescopes.
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