When I meet new people (which let’s be honest, happens on an almost daily basis here in DC), I get sooooo excited to tell them that I am from Pittsburgh. I love where I am from, and for a long time, I was pretty certain it was the only place on the planet. JK. 😉 Truly, I never saw myself moving away. It wasn’t until I went to college (20 minutes from home) and met so many friends from so many places that I started to picture myself elsewhere. Long term, I imagine myself back in Pittsburgh, but right now, I love living on my own in a different place!
Pittsburgh is the place to be with all its sporting events (Go Steelers!), restaurants, running trails, and theaters. I love seeing shows downtown! And I loved living downtown while I was in college. But I am not a city dweller through and through. I am actually from a town called Plum. No one outside of Pittsburgh really has any idea of what that means, so sometimes I say Pittsburgh, and then if you are from the area I will tell you Monroeville, and then if you know THAT place, I will say Plum. Ha! It’s a small farm town turned suburb full of houses and schools and fields and not much else. 😉
Let’s start with my neighborhoods…I have lived in two houses in Plum and both developments have been built on old farm land. That means that there has pretty much always been a farm in my backyard. 😉 At our old house, I specifically remember hearing cows and peacocks. One summer, the goats got loose and ran down my street. We were unfortunately on vacation when this occurred. Hahaha BUT in my new neighborhood, the farm is in front of us. They have cows, but they don’t seem to be as loud as the other ones. To be fair, the people who own these two farms are two of the only people who farm in the entire town. The rest of us are just regular suburbanites living in our houses ha!
Growing up, I spent most of my time playing in my front yard or in my Grandma’s HUGE yard. Her property turned into a very important source of income for me as I got older and was allowed to drive the lawn mower 😉 Now, at our new house, the backyard is the place to be. And we are surrounded by all our neighbors! There used to be no one in our backyard and we never played there…now houses line our backyard and our patio is the number one spot to sit!
 Besides that, I spent a ton of time at Holiday Park Elementary School because that’s where my mom worked and where my brothers and I went to school. We also frequented the library, our church, Paradise Park, Nesbit’s Bowling Alley, and the Plum Baseball Fields. Besides knowing 101 people who played baseball or softball, everyone would also go there to walk around and hang out. And take pictures. And eat concession stand food. And text people on their pink Razr phones. Hahaha
If you can’t tell, we might have had way too much fun at Paradise Park even as high school students. 😉 Boyce Park is actually the better park because that’s where the cross country running trails are located AND you can snow tube and ski there in the winter!
I always thought our high school was HUGE until I went to college and realized graduating with a class of 335 was not that much. 1,200 students in the same school SOUNDS like a lot, but I guess in retrospect, it’s not! A huge addition was added to the high school a few years before I got there, so maybe that’s why I thought it was so huge. Ha!
Now, if you’re hungry, as I’m sure we were after our high school Powderpuff game, you can go to one of two grocery stores, a Chinese take-out place, delivery pizza of your choice, or you can get in your car and drive to Monroeville! The other side of Plum, which is known as Holiday Park, has a few shopping centers, fast food restaurants, nail salons, gyms, etc…but if you want Target or Starbucks or Panera or THE MALL, you must drive yourself into Monroeville. And it’s only about 7 miles, so it’s no big deal. 🙂 When I moved to DC, I was very annoyed that I had to walk everywhere because I am used to driving to ALL the places. But now my feet have adjusted and I love walking to the grocery store and lululemon and Starbucks and the library!
Plum is a great little family town. Mostly everybody knows everybody, school sporting events are a huge deal and are so fun, and we do have our yearly fun events like Community Days in the summer and Sugarplum Days in the winter. But for now, I love the city life. 🙂
What’s your hometown like?