Hill Country Living
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Hill Country Living
By Coulter Fussell
Last week’s cold and rainy weather was nothing short of miserable. I took it personally as I had a lot of car-loading and unloading to do for several days in a row. I cursed the skies every time I walked outside and grumbled my way through the week. That didn’t make anything better, though, because the weather repaid my bad attitude with three days of fake ice storms.
The school delay was an odd experience! While the kids were ecstatic to sleep two hours later, the delay threw off the rest of my day entirely. I couldn’t figure out when to leave for school or when to eat lunch – even though adding two hours to anything is not difficult math. The day felt like a no-worries Saturday morning for a little while and then, all of a sudden, alarms were going off and it was crunch-time: emails, school shoes, backpacks! I guess what I’m saying is that if delayed school days could be a hair style then they would be the mullet of days. Party in the morning, business in the afternoon.
The delay was especially confusing because we had to consider a potentially icy half-hour drive, as my family and I have been staying in Oxford due to construction going on at our house.
This construction has lasted quite a while. My kids and I have a bet going over whose construction will finish first: ours or Sprint Mart’s. I won’t tell you how long we were actually out of our home, but I imagine some of the townspeople I’ve seen on my morning walk every single solitary day for the past 18 years think I’ve died. My reappearance on the Water Valley walking circuit may appear to be a holy miracle to some folks!
I’m glad to be back in Water Valley. On my first night back, I went down to see my pal, Sean Ennis, do a book reading at the TIN space on Main Street. Sean has lived on Wood Street for a couple decades and his short stories are hilarious. I felt sophisticated going to a book reading on my first day back in Water Valley which is something I hadn’t done the entire time I had stayed in Oxford, a town famous for book-readings. But, then I again, I also went to Sonic twice within six hours of being back in Yalobusha County so I guess everything evens out.
The Water Valley Junior High and High School Valentine’s dance is next Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m.! The tickets are $15 and your kids can purchase them at school or via Cashapp. Y’all be sure to encourage your kids to go, if dances are their thing. The more participation, the better chance that they can have school-sanctioned social activities. My high school had dances and pep rallies for everything! And our dances weren’t all fancy affairs.
Our Homecoming “dance” was around a big bonfire outside by the field the night before the game and everyone was casual. Athletes wore their uniform shirts and we took group photos on haybales.
Lastly, the Water Valley High School Baseball Jamboree is this Saturday. It’ll be a lot of baseball all day so come on down to the high school field anytime, grab some cheese fries and support the Blue Devils!
