belle vernon

QotD: [this is home]

Where do you consider home?  Is it the place you grew up; the place you're currently living?  Why is it home?
Submitted by uncagedbird. 

Funny that you should ask this QotD.  I've had this arguement with many people whilst living in different places.  When I lived in New York for two years, I never called it home.  Don't get me wrong, I loved NY (minus the reason I moved there), but it was never home.  I've now lived in Miami for going on three years and it is also not home.

Home is, was, and will always be at 245 Van Meter Road, Belle Vernon, PA, no matter who lives there now.  As long as that house stands, it will be home.  It's home because that's where I grew up.  It's home because I got to watch that house get built from the ground up.  It's home because that's where all my childhood memories are, the good and the bad.  It's home because that house, that yard, and that neighborhood are all a part of who I am today.  It's home because it's the only place where I've had my own space.  It's home because that's where my heart is.

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QotD: My Dream Address

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?  Why? 
Submitted by abcdefg81.

Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, circa 1970-1990.

I grew up in this wonderful place.  By today's real estate standards, it's still a gem and has much to offer.

  • Location, location, location – only 20 minutes from downtown Pittsbugh, within a 30 minute drive of 5 major malls, a small hometown grocery story within 2 miles (where they know you by name and will charge it if you don't have enough), and not a long drive to several major universities (Pitt, IUP, WVU, Penn State branch campuses).
  • Crime rate – back in the day, it was pretty much nil.  We left our cars unlocked with the keys in them and the doors unlocked overnight.  It was safe to trick-or-treat, go caroling, and just let your kids run around and play hide-and-go-freeze at night.
  • School district – one of the best around.  My graduating class had a bunch of damn near geniuses in it (myself NOT included) as well as athletes.  Several went to the NFL and many now have prosperous careers.  Wonderful buildings housing our educators and students as well as the most kick-ass football stadium around.  Superb faculty and great opportunities for the students.
  • Weather – yes, it rains, often.  But you take the good with the bad.  The first day warm enough to wear shorts (and after a long winter, that's the first day that breaks 50 degrees), summer days hot enough to go to the waterpark, SWEATER WEATHER!, the beauty of untouched snow in the back yard, changing of the leaves, crickets chirping at night, beautiful starry skies with no light pollution.
  • People – everyone knows everyone, but they still kept their nose out of your business.  I knew I could always count on any of our neighbors if I needed a hand.

If you're passing through Pittsburgh, take a drive straight down Route 51 and check it out.

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