Richmond, Virginia is a world away from my home Virginia Beach. When my husband had an opportunity to make a career switch and wanted to move us up here to hell, I said sure babe, wither thou go... Sum'a bitch. Who knew he would actually get the job. Who knew, our house had doubled in value since we bought it. I say sure because i truly didn't think it would happen.
It happened. The first time someone up here asked me who my family was, I started laughing. Really? My family? My family in Tidewater? I wasn't applying to join the "THE Country Club of Virginia." No one in hearing range lived in Tidewater, nor had they ever.
But when the entire room became silent waiting for my answer I decided it was time to mess with them.
"Mom. Mom is my family. Aunt Honey and Daddy, Joe and Nick and Adam and Ray. They are my family too."
It took me a by surprise, but I knew what they were asking. "Are you anybody? How much money do you have? What is your social cache?" I have run into that question before. It was disguised differently, more along the lines of , " Hi, I am Buffy my husband is a doctor. " I always follow that up with, "That's nice.... what do you do all day?" I ususally only got that question on the tennis court in Virginia Beach, but when I moved to the Capital of the Confederacy, I heard it everywhere.
I have begun to tell these jerks that the question reminds me of a tidbit of trivia I remember from reading the biography of Wallis Simpson. It seems she was wrangling with the parliment over her engagement to Edward, she wrote to her aunt and uncle in Maryland asking for her birth certificate and family information... This was the reply she got, " If you acted like a lady you wouldn't need papers to prove it."
Who is your family?
I heard a bird sing in the dark of December; it was a sweet thing and a joy to remember...
Make it a Good Day
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