Insights

From the moment I took my first steps across coal country, I realized how different I was while also noting these differences seemed mostly external.

I did not live in a house, with a yard with pets with whom to run.

I did not have summer or weekend vacations or road-trips, corralling across east and west, since that required a vehicle.

For I did not have musical instruments, to project my creativity.

I did not have much of a voice, cognizant of how alien my foreign experience sounded if spoken to my neighbors and peers who walked not too distant steps from me. In turn, they appeared to live light-years away from me, like on another planet with different customs, traditions, and resources.