Buena Vista has its faults and drawbacks, but it is a place worth getting to know. The scenery is beautiful. Virginia is one of the most gorgeous states (of course Oregon is up there too!). There are rolling grassy hills of farm land and steep fluffy (yes, they do look fluffy when all the trees are covered with leaves) mountains. Sometimes the mountains look like the mountainous jungles in South America when the clouds are low and mist is caught up in the crevices.Your father and I loved driving around the countryside and hiking. We only wished we would have hiked and explored more. I will miss the vibrant falls, the sunny, but cold winters, and even the humid summers (as long as we were swimming in the river or jumping off the footbridge).
BV is wonderful because it is home to Southern Virginia University (where we both graduated from). We had a wonderful experience at SVU. We made some amazing friends, were taught by the most wonderful, intelligent and kind professors, and had a lot of good times. One of our favorite experiences was both of us being involved in Annie Get Your Gun (I convinced your dad and he did a great job). To say the least, SVU has a very special place in my heart and I'm so glad we made the decision to come here. While in my belly, you were in one ballet (Cinderella-very early on), one play (Annie Get Your Gun--1st trimester), and one whole semester of college. You were also in your very first ballet when you were fives months old as the baby Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. We loved SVU and accomplished a lot there--so did you.
Despite what anyone might say (and most of it is true), I did enjoy being in the South. Buena Vista is by no means in the deep South, but it is a very Southern place. For example, old people sat out on their porch on rockers and waved to those who passed by, sometimes I could not understand people if their accent was too thick, any of the locals I met were genuinely kind, and the Mountain Days Festival held in BV was always a good time, complete with a group of old people playing Bluegrass. I loved getting to know this culture, which has many faults (laziness and racism come to mind), but also has many things about it that have helped me to better understand others and be less judgmental and more loving.
There are some things I won't miss about BV. There was hardly anywhere to shop (I don't consider Wal-Mart a good place to shop), which would not be too much of a problem if shopping area was 10-20 minutes away, but 45 minutes was just a little too far. I was not a huge fan of our apartment (though I loved the forest behind it), well, more like the people who ran it and very slowly and inconsiderately remodeled it. It will be nice to have privacy again, as they were popping in at all hours of the day. Also, the cops. I'm not going to miss them at all.
I will really miss all of our great friends we met there. Our professors, friends (oh so many!), my dancers I taught, Missy Floyd (ballet teacher), all the people at church (especially my Beehive girls) and most especially my sister and Ricky (I hope we can live close to you again!). I just wish you could get to know all of these people and maybe someday you will.
We will move many places before we find our home and settle down, but I just felt like I should let you know a little something about where you were born.
Love always,
your Mom
I needed to say good-bye to good ol' BV and felt this was a good way to do it. If you suffered through this extremely long and sentimental letter, I hope you liked it.
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