Girls are rare in my daddy's family. Therefore, the few of us are quite treasured. When my cousin was born, she held the honor of being the first girl born into the family in 19 years. Two years later I was born. And I was the baby of the family for a number of years. She has never forgiven me for that. It took another 18 years after me before another girl was born into the family. Add onto this my grandfather's belief that a girl should not work unless it is for a family business until she has found a suitable husband and well... Yep. All the makings for self-proclaimed royalty. Speaking of which, I must ask my daddy if I can borrow that photo of me handing out Christmas gifts to the rest of the family while wearing a tiara. This was during those years during which I deluded myself into thinking that I should be a lawyer. Now if my grandfather had still been living, I would have taken the opportunity to obtain my M.R.S. (Oh and by the way, I like to tell my parents occasionally, "You know, grandpa is rolling in his grave because his baby girl has to work."
Now my mother's family didn't have the same kind of resources that my daddy's family did. But they believed in the dream that they could achieve. My mother is the one who taught me that one can have class no matter how much one has in one's wallet. My mother also always told me that Virginians are the snobs of Southerners. (Do you know that there are some south of the Mason-Dixon who have mistakenly told me that Virginia is not a southern state? I can understand the confusion. Because nowadays anything north of Richmond is nothing more than a D.C. suburb. Before you start slamming me, I got this from her family.) During my first year living in Virginia, I came across a cross-stitch pattern -- The Virginian Creed.
To be a Virginian either by Birth, Marriage, Adoption, or even on one's Mother's side,
is an Introduction to any State in the Union,
a Passport to any Foreign Country,
and a Benediction from Above.
Well, if this doesn't add to one's feeling of being royal, I don't know what else would. Oh, and at my mother's house, this is one of the first things you see upon entering. Because of course I had to stitch it up for her as it seemed to say everything that she had tried to tell me when I was growing up. It also solved the mystery of why no one in Virginia seemed to question the presence of the girl from California.
"Why did you move here?"
"Well, I wanted to see somewhere different. And my mother is from here. In fact, she's the only one who actually left the state."
And a cool non sequitur --
At the beginning of the day yesterday, one of my students asked me to hang onto her IPod for her -- because electronics are not allowed at school unless a member of the staff is keeping them safe. After school I gave it back to her. By then I had a few students in my room from various grades. My student and one of the current sixth graders, whom I originally met last summer, were listening to a song. They insisted that I had to check out this cool new tune. What was it? "Alone Without U" by Robin Thicke. Imagine their shock when I told them that I love the entire CD.
Then it was, "You know he's White?"
"Yes."
"And his father's name is Alan?"
"Yes."
Obviously someone has internet access at home.
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