Read on then let me know what your thoughts are...
How often do you think about the choices you make?
Where you live, where you work, where your kids go to school?
I had an epiphany one night a few years ago, and since then my goal has been to move SOUTH to where life is slow and people are friendly - even if you are a stranger!
It was during a long night of insomnia, before I was diagnosed with Lupus and FMS, and I just could not get my brain to download for the night.
I got to thinking about the cost of housing here in Maryland and the cost of college educations here without help from the state for people like us that make "good Money".
That got me thinking about our 3 youngest children and where they are supposed to go to middle and high school... not to be a snob but let's face it where we live affects who our children meet!
Did I want them to meet people who live in transient housing and have no real goals? Did I want them to go to a school with an alarmingly high number of gang members known to be there and only a handful of college prep and advanced placement classes?
Did I want to stay in my nice neighborhood and hope the kids would only make friends with, and be influenced by, the kids with college goals who make good grades and want to make something of themselves?
Do I want to HOPE the boy my daughter falls in love with is not a gang member, or related to one?
Then the enormity of how my choices affect my children became very clear.
Where we live will dictate who they meet. Who they meet will affect what they do with their lives... will they excel in school and life, or will they want to take the easy way out?
I will not even attempt to kid myself that what I teach them will be their greatest infuence... I know all too well from raising my 3 oldest children that their peers will hold the greatest influence over them and in many cases be the deciding factor for many of their choices.
So... where we live makes all the difference.
In the city, in the suburbs, in a close-knit neighborhood, rural, urban, fast-paced, slow and steady?
Good Schools with music and arts programs, community sponsored sports events, leave the backdoor open for friends to come on in type of places ...
Do they even exist anymore in the US of A?
If so I want to know where ... because that is where I want to live. That is the influence I want my children to have... a sense of community and responsibility for more than just themselves.
And where did these thoughts bring me to want to live?
South
In all our travels to NC, SC, LA, MS and GA we have only met nice and friendly people. We have seen small towns with Main Street Parades and everyone was there! We have watched the local news and seen highlites from the high school basketball game ! We have gone for a walk and been greeted by total strangers of all colors and walks of life with smiles and waves and genuine good will. You get a feeling of sincerity and security and that is the feeling I want me children to have as they grow older. A sense of belonging to a real Home Town. My search to find the perfect HOME TOWN is ongoing-- I know it is out there!
(Now I know that South is not the only place with towns with the wualities I am looking for- but it does not snow in the south so that makes it perfect for ME!)
Moral of this story...
Where you live makes a difference--- not for you, but for your children.
Choose wisely!
