Public Look In: Home of THEE Laura Strong

The Ville, The Village, Hooterville, Woodpile, The Dirty Wood, The Cop Shop, The Speed Trap, Hoodville, Weirdville, The Town NOT to be Mistaken for Gibsontucky, The Twilight Zone, Whoville, Whatville, The Dirty, Wildville, The "Other" Woodville (not the Woodville Mall), Skullyville, Woodtucky, The Bubble, The Lime Capital of the World

THE VILLAGE OF WOODVILLE

While most people only click on a blog post when I link it to facebook, there are a few people that actually subscribe. While I was "off the grid" I asked if any of my regular followers had any topics/questions that they would like me to attempt to answer. This is one of them and I plan to answer honestly, but also have some fun with!

SDD, a friend that recently PICKED to move back to Woodville...like took a pay cut and moved in with her rents for a while in order to make the move possible sent me the following questions: "Why are you here? Why did you stay? Why didn't you get the hell out when you had a chance? Does any part of you ever regret it? (And not in the, "No, I don't regret it because I wouldn't have married Aaron and had the kids," kind of way, that's a cop out. Let's say you get to keep Aaron and the kids, but still got out for a while/forever...what do you think?)"

When I was 17 and headed off to "Woodmore #2" or "The Larger Scale of the Same" (BGSU), I was NEVER going to come back to Woodville. I wanted to live in a big city like Chicago, have a fancy office in a skyscraper over looking the city and only come home when my parents begged me. Aaron wanted to live in Montana or some other desolate place in the wilderness away from all socialization. I wasn't going to have any children and wouldn't be caught dead living in "The Dirty Wood"...until I did.

Why I am here? When I found out I was having Lilly, we couldn't afford anything more than the half-way house. Aaron was living in Columbus. I was living with two of my friends. Both of us only worked enough to pay the rent and buy beer. If we were going to give the whole family thing a whirl, we needed the help of our families. I cried when we talked about moving back to Woodville, but both of us knew that it was our best option. Of course both of us convinced ourselves that we would only live in Woodville for a short time. Once we landed real jobs we would get the hell out!

Now that we are making enough money to pay the mortgage, care for our children, and have a little extra room to breathe, we could easily get out of "The Ville". So, why did I stay? When we shopped around for houses we looked in Luckey, Pemberville and Elmore. (Nope, didn't even look in Chicago or Montana...Woodville is actually a pretty good compromise for the two extremes, I suppose) We put an offer in on a house in Elmore, but by the time the sellers were ready to come down to our price, I was over the cute little blue house with a white picket fence. If we would have would have bid a little higher on the house in Elmore or if my Uncle Paul wouldn't have pointed out the many flaws in the other house we wanted to bid on in Woodville, we wouldn't have had a room on the first floor or the extra space when my Dad needed a room on the first floor. Aaron was laid off from Martin Marietta the month that we were supposed to close on our current house. When the lender learned this information, they wouldn't approve us for a loan without a co-signer. At the time my Dad had no idea that he would eventually move into our house (that was already handicap accessible), but he could tell I wanted the house and agreed to co-sign on our behalf.

The same town that I rode bikes in, built forts in, collected spiders and fed grasshoppers in, smashed pumpkins on the roads in, rode the rocko planes in, was confirmed in, was NEVER going to live in...is now HOME. I can't imagine living anywhere else.

My children can do Woodmore jumping jacks. The neighbors are some their best friends. I am able to coach teams with my forever friends as we watch our children grow up together in a community that ALWAYS supports their own. I have witnessed the overwhelming amount of love and generousity that is shared when someone is in need and I don't think that all communities can say the same. I know the parents of the girls that I call to babysit my children. I am greeted by name when I enter the grocery store, the pharmacy, and the coffee shop. I can still name 90% of the classmates that I graduated high school with. I can walk home from Jo Jo's...AND the beer tent! My mom and inlaws live close enough to help out, enjoy their grandchildren and we have ironed out the kinks of the drop by visits. My kids have cousins that live here and great aunts and uncles that love them as much as their grandparents do. My house is the gathering place when friends come home for the holidays. When we stripped wall paper we found rainbows and hearts drawn by our friends when they were little.

Why didn't I get out while I could and do I regret never leaving? 10 years ago I would have answered this question much differently, probably even 3 years ago, maybe even last year, but today, where I'm at now, I can say that I would move to Woodville again even if I didn't have to. I stay because I want to. When the kids are out of the house, maybe I'll leave Woodville, but probably not. On my list of regrets 'never leaving Woodville' doesn't even make the page.

So, yes, Sarah, "it's this piddly ass little town, but dude, it's home"!

THEE ROCKO PLANES