So,
I’m a transplant. Actually, I’m a
transplant times eight. I’ve lived in six different states, and have taken
short jaunts to Germany over the last twenty-three years. I’m a former ballet dancer, actor and model,
cellist, singer, and admirer of all things culturally refined. I was fifteen
when my Dad came home to tell us he had good news and bad news. The bad news was we had to move, but the good
news was that we were going to Green Bay, Wisconsin! Seriously?
This was good news? I think I remember asking if there’s an NFL
football team there (Is that where I know the name from?...), but my mind’s TV
was playing “Little House on the Prairie” in my head. I was waiting for a camera crew to suddenly
appear…even though “Punk’d” hadn’t even been dreamed up yet.
After the shock wore off, the moving trucks
pulled away, and the three of us (my twin brother, my sister, and I) prepared
ourselves for the up-coming school year, we found that meeting new people would
be easy. All we had to do was open our
mouths, and there would be a gathering. We were stars … from outer space it
seemed.
I grew up in southern Ohio, which some of
you may be aware, is close to the border of northern Kentucky, so citizens of
this area have a distinctly southern drawl adopted from its neighbor state. If you live in other parts of the state you
will have other accents, like the Clevelanders who sound like they’re from Philly,
and the residents of Toledo can sound nasally New-York-ish. I happened to have arrived to “Titletown,
USA,” which was devoid of any diversity at the time, with a drawl that caused a
stir everywhere I went. I could not go
to the mall, introduce myself in class, or talk to anyone on the telephone
without having to answer the constant question of, “Where are you from?”
I wasn’t quite as confident then, as I am today. Otherwise I would have answered, “The moon.” To a community used to its Norwegian,
Swedish, Dutch, French, and German foundations, a newcomer with a hillbilly
sound was way too entertaining to ignore.
Before we moved here we made a trip to the “Frozen
Tundra” to go house-hunting together.
When I noticed there not being any people of color, my father
off-handedly remarked that that was
because any people of color in Green Bay…were on the football team. I was dumbfounded. My best friends back home had been the sons
and daughters of doctors, military members, and scientists of one of the
largest Air Force Bases in the world. It was a testing facility that handled
top secret projects that were worked on by the best minds from around the
globe. Therefore, my classmates were of every color and spoke with all kinds of
accents. It never occurred to any of us
to point out the obvious...or maybe we just didn’t notice.
Anyway, my sibling s and I were asked
constantly about the way we talked, and were even called “hillbillies” by the
ignorant. People told us constantly that
we “talked funny” like one would comment on the weather. Add to that the incredibly horrible winters, the
length of time it took to get to spring, and that the nearest ballet company
being almost three hours away, and had I reached my limit for tolerating this
new environment; thus, expediting my
resolve to leave this place as soon as I could.
Making it through those last three years of
school, in the land who’s people bleed green and gold, prepared me for so many
changes that would come in the future….like seventeen moves, twenty-five jobs,
three career changes, marriage, motherhood, and one wheelchair. I learned the value of knowing how to
navigate new places, how to build fresh relationships under varying
circumstances, and how to lean on your family.
The three of us became an oasis of non-judgmental sanctuary for each
other. That trying time help lay the
foundation for the intimacy we still have today.
It also allowed me the opportunity to make
some crucial choices for myself. I had
to decide how I was going to take the move, in the first place. I had to figure out a new culture; one I
could either boycott or embrace. I can’t
begin to tell you how hard it is for an orchestra kid, used to spending all of
my extracurricular time in ballet class or the theater, to move to a football
town! I could choose to be angry about
being made fun of all the time, or do something about it. My twin brother happened to be well over six
feet tall, and my sister fell close behind at just over six feet, when we came
to town, so they really didn’t have to worry about the bullying, but I was the
shortest of us (and most tender-hearted) so I succumbed to the pressure and
morphed to fit in. They would not drop their
drawls for anyone, and I stayed up late to study news anchors so I could speak more
“correctly.” I learned to dress for the
formidable weather, enjoy the sound of the games on TV every Sunday, and
reveled disappearing in the sea of tall people in the church lobby every
week. As I said, this part of the
country was settled by the Dutch, Dane, and Scandinavians, and such, so being
tall here wasn’t out of place.
I can’t say I changed my mind about wanting
to leave ASAP, but all that I learned during those years made coming “home”
again (cause you know “home” is where your family is) easier. I’m still here, even though I’m married to a
pilot, and we could live anywhere. The
city of Green Bay has become a thriving metropolis, with more diversity than I
could have ever imagined it having back when I was a teenager. I have met people from every state, gotten
lost in conversations with other Buckeyes, and smile when I see kids of all
colors walking home from school together.
I’m glad I came back and gave Green Bay another chance. I would not have
all that I have today if I hadn’t lost everything I’d ever known back then.
What about you? Have you undergone some life-altering
changes, or about to experience it? How
are you going to go about it? Are you gonna
have the courage to be different or use every opportunity you can to make the
best of the situation? And for those of
you meeting someone new; ask yourself how you treat people that are different
than you. Be the one who treats them
like they belong, even if they talk funny.
Do you have a story to share? A change that you had to overcome? Please share below!
