#3: Story

Despite my Appalachian roots, I don’t often think of my life experiences in terms of storytelling. And despite knowing that I've heard many family tales from my dad and his family before, I can’t recall a single one of them well enough to retell here.

But I suppose a ‘story’ I’d consider worth passing down about myself would be something my dad brought to my attention when I was interviewing him for my exploratory essay. Growing up, my family (my mother, father, older sister, and occasionally my older half brother) moved around often for a period of about five years. Before that, my parents had owned a small music shop here in Athens, though even before that we lived in Columbus. But the shop went bankrupt due to economic circumstances outside of their control. I assume this had to do with why we moved around so much. We always stayed inside Ohio, though we stuck around the Cleveland area, and so I have childhood experiences in both Appalachian Ohio and more urban parts of Ohio.

Eventually, my dad’s Guitar Center job transferred him to Florida, and we stayed there for a period of just under two years when I was in 4^th and 5^th grade. My sister and I hated it there. We wanted to go “home.”

We’d moved around so often since my sister and I were born that my parents didn't know what “home” was, from our point of view. It turns out both of us meant Athens County, specifically the house we lived in when they owned their music shop- the house we now live in today.

My house.

I wouldn't have thought this a story worth telling until my dad pointed out how Appalachian it is to feel such a strong connection to one’s “home.” I've only come to recently appreciate the fact that I have a place I can really feel like I can call home where I belong, when many people don’t have or experience that in their lives.