Improvement. Personal improvement -- physical, mental, emotional, spiritual improvement. That’s the goal of the next 30 years. What was the goal of the last 30? Personal Improvement--physical, mental, emotional, spiritual improvement. Okay, so on a scale of one to ten with ten being the greatest how would I rate myself on my goal over the last 30 years? Why, a TEN, of course!
Thirty years ago I was an ambitious, 20-year-old who had moved away from my home in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to the Tidewater region which includes the three largest cities in the state--Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Chesapeake--and is home to over a million people. This area is literally about as far away from Collinsville (population of maybe 7000) as one can be while remaining within the state of Virginia. I remember making my decision to relocate as though it was twenty minutes ago.
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| Collinsville rarely makes the map, but it's a little town located about 60 miles south of Roanoke. |
It was 1983, and I was enrolled at Patrick Henry Community College -- a Dean’s List student with aspirations to become an English Professor. I had just begun the second semester of my sophomore year, and I was living at home with my mother and younger sister. I had taken a part-time job at a knitting mill where I pressed, folded, and stored sweatshirts. I loved the new knowledge derived from a variety of college courses, and didn’t love the monotony of second shift factory work.
It was a Friday evening in February when, while lying in bed listening to the old clock/radio my dad had given me, I heard the radio announcer stating that Roanoke, the largest city in the Piedmont region where I lived, was experiencing the highest unemployment rate in the state at over 8% with the lowest unemployment rate in the Tidewater area. I envisioned happy, bustling folks over at the coast having employment options while I was limited to a mundane factory position. I've always preferred room to maneuver. I need options. Sure, I did love school, but I needed employment to survive, and I figured if I could continue my education in Collinsville, I could do it in Norfolk just as well. It was becoming fairly clear to me that I should probably relocate myself. Over the weekend, my thoughts were around this potential move, and on Sunday evening, I told my mother that I would be moving to the coast on the coming Wednesday.
On Wednesday, February 9, 1983, I rose at about 5AM to find that my mother had “slept,” apparently, in an upright position, with her light on all night. She got up with me. We chatted a bit. I got showered and dressed in a wool suit, grabbed my bag and clock/radio before heading to my car, a 1974 gray Ford Granada. I had loaded up my only other belongings the day before-- clothes, shoes, my journal, a blanket, pillow, and a few toiletries. I had $12. in my pocket, food and water, a full tank of gas, and another $34. in my checking account.
One might wonder why I had chosen to wear a wool suit on the five-hour road trip to my new life. Well, with a grand total of $46., I would be interviewing for employment immediately upon my arrival. I had no appointments, and with my resume in-hand, was prepared to solicit walk-in interviews within the retail industry. My pastor had given me verbal directions to Norfolk. Raising his arm and bringing his hand back to his shoulder, he said, "Get on 58 east." Then casting his arm forward to full extension, "Stay on it...all the way.” With that in mind, I kissed and hugged my mother and told her that I would not be back to visit for at least six months, but that I would let her know as soon as I was settled and had found work. I was off to begin my new life! It was, in a word, exhilarating!
"Wide Open Space" written by Susan Gibson and recorded by The Dixie Chicks. Photography by Lea Michelle
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