I was country when country wasn't cool

So the other day I'm checking out some young folks "myspace" and read how one girl I sorta know likes to go four-wheeling, likes outdoors, and drives a truck (and proudly tells the "lift" she has on it). Another girl mentions liking to fish and one picture shows her wearing camouflage. Well, this got me to thinking...

I used to tell people I lived in Raleigh, but the "country" part of Raleigh. Most folks out of town didn't get this. (And now things have changed out here). I grew up on as much of a farm as you can get in "Raleigh". Sure I liked the outdoors...especially when I got to spend Saturday mornings putting up electric fences with Daddy, especially when I got to load hay in the late summer afternoons (because it was "cooler" then), especially when I was topping, barning, and sheeting tobacco. (Building character Daddy used to say.) I remember dropping cut potatoes in the hole Daddy dug with a hoe to plant in the garden...stopping for a moment to make a "frog house" with my feet in the dirt. I remember using the hoe to mark how far we could go in the "long jump" in the garden dirt.

I can't count the times I spent fishing. Phil, Laura and I loved going to the hog pen to dig our own worms. Then it was off to Mary Frances' pond, usually with just a cane pole. John probably introduced me to using a fishing rod and beetle spin. We spent many Sunday afternoons down at that pond. I even remember going some after school. Until once I caught a bream in the eye and was traumatized (me, that is) trying to get it out. After that I waited to go when John was there. I always liked how we'd go fishing and lots of folks would end up down there. Cars, trucks, and now golf-carts would be parked in Mary Frances' yard as we fished and visited.

And about trucks...I grew up with trucks. I first learned to drive in Daddy's truck. I remember driving with Daddy to the hog pen to feed. As we left and got to the end of Mary Frances' driveway at the road, I looked at him and he told me to "go on". I pulled out onto the road and drove on the the house ON THE ROAD. I was probably ten years old. Later when Chuck had his big, jacked up truck, I thought it was pretty cool when he had to take me somewhere. And of course there's dating in a truck. I can't imagine John driving anything but a truck. Plus, dating ain't the same unless you're sitting in the middle of the seat next to your man.

Yep, I was country when country wasn't cool. In middle school, my friends didn't even know where Old Stage Road was, much less Panther Branch. Those folks from Heather Hills didn't have a clue about killing hogs or going to school late after taking pigs to the market. They didn't know about 3-wheelers with old fiberglass shells/fenders. I wonder if they ever stayed out playing so late that the crickets singing (or mosquitoes biting) told you it was about time for Mommy to call you inside. While they were riding bikes on sidewalks, I was jumping ramps with my bike on the dirt driveways.

Now who'd think that some of these things would now be cool and talked about on "myspace". Hey, I guess we were "pioneers" to such simple pleasures. Who would have thought that at 38 years old I'd take up deer hunting...well, actually, looking at my past...I guess it was bound to happen. I hope I never change.