I try not to think about what might have been, 'Cause that was then and we have taken different roads.
We can’t go back again, there’s no use giving in.
And there’s no way to know, what might have been.
- Popular song lyrics
I’m proud that I am a Virginia Native. Even though my birthplace was Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington, DC my parents lived in an apartment in Arlington VA. Not long after my birth they moved to a single family house, still in Arlington, where my brother attempted to enter this world. When I was four years old, my parents bought a small cape cod farther out in the suburbs in rural Oakton. There I resided until my marriage in 1973 at age 22. Even now when I’m out and about, I sometimes drive through the streets of the old neighborhood where I spent my formative years. There were countless hours circling the block of Hibbard Street, Palmer Drive, Gray Street and Pine Street on my blue bicycle. On dark summer nights the neighborhood kids would play a game or two of flashlight tag. It was always fun to rustle up some spare change and walk to Zook’s Market to buy penny candy. This was long before the days of slurpees! We used to cut across an old, wooded path where Chester, the harmless local “bum” as we called him, used to sit on a fallen log and down a beer or two. By the age of 12 I was a seasoned babysitter for many neighbors’ children for the lofty sum of fifty cents per hour.
I consider myself fortunate to have attended Fairfax County Schools: Oakton Elementary, Thoreau Intermediate, and both James Madison and Oakton High Schools. It was such a thrill to be a senior in the class of ’69, the very first graduating class of Oakton High School. From there I opted to stay in Virginia and attended Longwood College in Farmville. There I earned a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education in 1973. And, you might have guessed, my first teaching job was in Annandale.
What fond memories I have of living in close proximity to an aunt, uncle, cousins and both sets of grandparents. It’s fun to look back at those old black and white photos of family gathered around the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table at one house or the other. Major holidays and birthdays were always a cause for some sort of celebration. I fondly recollect spending the night with my cousin Faith who was my same age. We’d lie in her double bed at night, holding hands because I was scared of a freaky clown doll that stood in one corner of her bedroom. We’d play with our Ginny dolls in the fabulous doll house my Uncle Jimmy had built for her. Spending the night with Nanny in her tiny house in Alexandria was fun, too, because we’d catch a bus to Woolworth’s five and dime and grab a bite to eat at the lunch counter.
Many Sunday afternoons were spent in Winchester at Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop’s house. Their big , white, stucco house was old and intriguing with a wonderful glider in the side yard. Pop-Pop often took my brother Steve and I for rides in the back of his old Ford pick up truck across their hilly pasture land. What a cook Mom-Mom was! Thoughts of her homemade bread and butter pickles, fresh peaches over ice cream or creamed peas still make my mouth water. She could stick her hands in the hottest dishwater and would always hang her damp dish towels out to dry on the back porch clothesline.
I met my future husband on the steps of the Oakton Methodist Church. It is through knowing him that I found out about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, took the missionary discussions and was baptized into it. All 33 of our married years have been in northern VA, very close to where I grew up. All three of our children have partaken of their mother’s legacy and attended school in Fairfax County, even graduating from Oakton High School.
At the ripe old age of 55, I think about how my life has been thus far. And I can’t help but consider one pivotal moment when the course of my life might have taken an entirely different path.My father worked as an aircraft mechanic for Capital Airlines at National Airport. When that company merged with United Airlines in the early 1960’s there was a lot of talk about having to transfer to San Francisco where the aircraft mechanics were based. My mother says that I was very adamant about NOT moving across the county—they could go but I would certainly find a way to stay in Virginia! Fortunately for me, my dad became certified as a grounds equipment mechanic and could remain based at National Airport. I can’t help but think what my life would have been like if we had moved to California, away from family. I know that many people move lots of times while they are children, but I feel like I have been really blessed to put down such deep roots in my native Virginia!
