I was reminded

Tonight as I was sitting in the grandstands at the county fair with my boys, I was reminded of why Ohio and it's people stole my heart and always called me back.

We were sitting there, waiting for the demolition derby surrounded by men in flannel shirts and overalls and women with tight perms and appliqued sweatshirts and as I looked around, it was just comfortable. People here seem to be stuck in another era, and yanno what...it's perfectly ok.

Sure you have the younger crowd who are set on fashions and fitting in, but when it boils right down to it, it doesn't matter here. People judge you more for who you are than what you wear or how you look. That concept seems so foreign to me compared to the Northern Virginia way of life.

I was looking around, with a kind of cheesy grin on my face but it really hit me when they played the Star Spangled Banner before the derby started. As I looked around, I saw every single person standing with their hand over their heart, looking at the flag waving above. There wasn't anyone talking, texting, fidgeting with a cell phone, or heaven forbid sitting down. Every single person within my sight was being respectful, and as the song progressed, I would swear to you that a good 75% of the people around me were singing along.

It was absolutely overwhelming to me to be standing in the same grandstands I used to sit in with my Pap and my Daddy when I was a tiny girl, listening to our Nations anthem being sung by literally hundreds of people from my hometown. It brought tears to my eye.

It's just not the kind of thing that happened in NOVA, and I may have not known it before, but it's part of the total package that brought me home and makes Ohio the place I love.

After the most stressful week I could have possibly imagined at work so far, that was absolutely what I needed to keep me from running back to Va.

God bless Fairfield County!