Not fully city, not fully country

As a small-scale part-time farmer, my friends and office co-workers who live in the city think of me as being country through and through. Conversely, the farmers I'm surrounded by quickly lump me in with the rest of the "city folk" not based on where I live but rather because of where I work. It's strange to be a part of both worlds -- easily transitioning between the peoples and topics on each side -- but also never fully integrated into either of them.

I love having a foot in each of the worlds.

I carry some credibility into both of them. In five short years of rural living, I've twice strained my back severely, sprained my ankle, tore open my hand putting up fencing, gotten sunburned (a lot), picked dozens of ticks off my body, and cut my nose with a mishandled flat-head screwdriver. I've begun to understand why farming is so dangerous, especially for those who spend all day working on their properties.

But then there's the city side of me. I grew up in an urban area and have the educational background fitting to others who work there. I want to climb the corporate ladder, and I enjoy good restaurants and some of the amenities of the city.

Maybe that's why being near a growing yet blue-collar town like Roanoke is so fitting. Both sides of me can come out from time to time. I remember when I first moved here, I went to an opera, an art show opening, and a bull-riding competition within the first two months. Sounds like a pretty neat mixture to me.