Cristy Bailey-rough draft I have not visited many states in my lifetime, and up until four years ago, I had lived in Tennessee my entire life. My families’ decision to move to West Virginia, a place I had never even drove through or visited before, turned out to be the best decision we could have ever made. Living in West Virginia was certainly a culture shock at first, but we settled in and found it the perfect place to call home. I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. It was always easy for me to find my way around, even if I hadn’t ever been to a certain area before. I still could find my way around because I was so familiar with all areas of middle Tennessee. For example, I had a job interview in Lebanon, which is a smaller city outside of Hermitage, Tennessee about 30 minutes from Nashville. I wasn’t familiar with the area but had traveled through there on several occasions. I got the address from the receptionist and located the place almost instantly in time for my interview. Tennessee weather is sporadic at best. I can remember one year, it was 60 degrees when I woke up to get the kids ready for school and by 2 o’clock that afternoon, it was snowing. The seasons change very abruptly in Tennessee. It has one long hot spell and one long cold spell. There is not a “fall” or “spring” really. You wake up one day and all the leaves are gone off of the trees and it is very cold outside. Leaves hardly get a chance to turn before falling to the ground. Summertime is the worst season of all in Tennessee. The heat is not real bad, it’s the humidity that that makes you feel miserable if you have to be outside. My family went to a family reunion down there in the middle of July last year. It was at Cedars of Lebanon Park. That particular day, the temperature was in the low 90’s but the humidity made it feel like 120 degrees outside and we had no shade. I though I was going to melt right there at the park! By the time we got back to the hotel my clothes were so soaked with sweat that it looked like I went swimming in them. I grew up in the suburbs of Nashville. Those little neighborhoods where made of houses lined neatly side by side down the street and the neighbors’ houses were about 50 feet away from your own. The houses were organized in “blocks”. It was like one big square lined in houses. As a kid, it was this ‘block” that I rode my bike or roller skates and played kick ball with all the other neighborhood kids. The local General Store was a few blocks down the road and with my mom’s permission, I would walk there with my friends and get a candy bar and a coke. (In Tennessee, all carbonated drinks are cokes.) Tennessee has some of the most scenic mountains. It is known for its Smokey Mountains and people vacation there often in one of the many secluded cabins. In my travels throughout Tennessee, I saw what I thought to be some of the most beautiful pieces of land. During the fall season, if you can catch the small period of time that the leaves start to change, it looks like water colors of red, orange and brown have been pour over the hills like a water fall. I moved to West Virginia with my husband about four years ago. I had never been in the state at any time in my life. I felt as though I’d been dropped off in a foreign country. I had no idea where I was. I had no friends or family with me. I still have trouble finding my way to the simplest of places. One would think since I grew up in one of the larger cities in America, that it would be easy me to find my way around some of the smaller towns in West Virginia. I hve gotten lost more in the last four years than I have my entire life. Even moving to Oceana was a complete accident. We just happened upon it one day while driving around the vicinity of my husband’s new job and thought it looked to be a nice area. I love the weather in West Virginia. There are actually four separate seasons as apposed to one long cold spell and one long hot spell. The spring and fall seasons our my favorite. It’s not too hot or too cold and I can open up the windows of my house to let in fresh air. The air seems cleaner and it has a certain crispness that I enjoy. Every time I visit family in Tennessee now, I come home with sinus troubles. Growing up in the neighborhoods as I did, I first found it weird the way the neighborhoods were set up here. Most houses around here are set up in what they call coal camps. The coal companies initially built them for the miners who they employed. They are not set up in blocks; they are literally on top of one another. I wondered why at first but then I realized that there is not a lot of flat space to build on up here and they had to put as many houses as they could in what little space was available. If people aren’t in a coal camp, then they are usually find a small space in a hollow to build their own house. I would love to find a more secluded space on a mountain and build my house one day. I thought I had seen some of the most beautiful scenery in Tennessee, until I moved to West Virginia. We travel through Summersville on our way to my husband’s parent’s house. The New River Gorge is breathtaking. The mountains in Tennessee look like molehills in comparison. The route to Beckley by way of Kopperston is also very scenic. In the winter, with the trees covered in snow and ice, makes me look at them in amazement of how wonderful and spectacular it all looks. West Virginia is truly a vision of heaven itself. When I moved from Tennessee to West Virginia, I thought I would hate it here and it was only supposed to be a temporary situation. However, once my family got settled in working and school, we couldn’t imagine moving back to Tennessee. The commute to work is almost relaxing with the beautiful scenery. The air is cleaner and I dare say, my family is healthier. I am learning how to get to different places everyday. At first, I thought I had moved to some deserted island out in the middle of nowhere. But now, I appreciate and love the unique charm that is West Virginia.