Being from the Ohio Valley will never leave me

What accent?

I’m lucky enough to have grown up in the same general area up until it was time to leave for college. The most exciting thing I did was switch from the Catholic school to one of the public schools when I was 13. A little place right on the border of OH, WV and PA called Wintersville. But no matter how much I say I’ll never go back to the Ohio Valley, I can’t help but be thankful for my roots.

We have the best pizza

You have not lived until you’ve called Giannamore’s pizza 12 times on a Friday night trying to get through to place your order. This pizza changed my life and any family member who moved away always orders it frozen to take back with them.

It’s square cut, baked with just the dough and sauce, then the pepperoni and cheese is added on AFTER it is cooked. Crazy, I know. But this pizza will give your mouth a feeling better than water the morning after one too many shots.

Accent? Wait what?

Only until I started coming to Columbus for cheer camps in high school was I told I had an accent. Very weird considering I’ve lived in Ohio my entire life. Apparently it’s really noticeable when I say words like “home” and “go.” We don’t talk funny, you talk funny.

Buggy v. Shopping cart and Sweeper v. Vacuum Cleaner

My hometown area is about a 30-40 minute drive from Pittsburg so we say a lot of the “slang” that started there. We go to Kroger’s and use a buggy while we shop for groceries and a sweeper when cleaning the carpet. Just the other day I was at Target with a friend and said “Oh, we should get a buggy!” and she replied with “You mean a cart? Where are you from again?” THE OV BABY.

You either like Ohio State or we hate you

Okay I’m only half kidding here, because the Buckeye fandom is real back home. When I say I was a born and raised Buckeye, I’m not kidding. People have those stones in their front yard landscaping with the block O and the family last name in every neighborhood I’ve ventured to in my hometown. Every Halloween we can make up a drinking game for how many OSU related costumes we see. I have very few friends who don’t like OSU, and even my high school teachers would mess them during rivalry week.

Football Fridays

I think it’s safe to say every hometown honors this tradition, but as a cheerleader the first time I ever paid for football game tickets was when I came to OSU and dropped $252 on season tickets (worth it). Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, you name it, would be at the games. The student section was full of seniors in the front row painted up waving a flag representing Indian Creek. After winning a game the football players, cheerleaders and students would storm the field and stand in front of our band as they played our Alma Mater. Our band kicked ass and actually went to Disney World this spring to march in a parade at Magic Kingdom.

While I don’t think I can ever see myself living permanently in the Steubenville/ Wintersville, OH area but I love that I’ve grown up there. We’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly but we stick together through it all.

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