A short and sweet dedication to my beloved, West Virginia. Nestled in the heart of Appalachia and a special cove in my own heart, it is with great respect and devotion that I wake up every morning with inexplainable awe of your splendor.
It’s not just your magnificent mountain top vistas, mystical, foggy river bottoms, or lush, forested landscapes that keep me submerged with endless bliss and wonder, but also the sons and daughters to which your lands gave birth, and the rich soil that endlessly provides for them. It’s the way a farmer greets a gas station clerk on a rainy Saturday morning, how a waitress at the local diner asks what you’d like for supper as if it’s the only thing in life that matters. It’s a neighbor that, without hesitation, goes out of his way to help you put up fence or a school teacher who dedicates her Tuesday night to making sure you’ve got a ride home from practice.
In West Virginia, whether they’ve been buried for centuries or newly transplanted, roots run as deep as the coal beds and oil shales that lie beneath our mountainous terrain. Of all the places there are to visit and all the land to settle down, there’s no better place to ever call home than West Virginia. Just ask one of us. We’ll be the first to tell ‘ya!
Happy Birthday, sweet Vandalia. Here’s to many more trips around the sun together! May you continue to nourish our bodies, minds and souls!
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