Welcome To Virginia!

I am surrounded by people that constantly complain about where they live, which happens to be where I live. I hear complaints about the weather, traffic, rude people, cost of housing, urban sprawl, and on and on. I was born here and I take great offense, as most of these people are not from here. I used to work with a guy from Texas and he said there was a bumper sticker that was popular a few years ago in Texas that said, "Welcome to Texas! Now go home!" I understand this. If you don't like it here, then leave, because I'm tired of you and your complaining.

I've tried to explain to these people that it wasn't always they way it is now. Actually, it's because of them that it is the way it is now. At one point in time, Northern Virginia was very small town. We had people that worked for the government that came and went and then there were the natives. We didn't have the big corporations that decided to come here and make their home around DC and Dulles International Airport. We had farms, with cows and vegetables. There were no McMansions, Mercedes or Jimmy Choo's. We did have a Sears catalogue store that when you went to pick up your order and gave them a check, they told you they didn't need to see your driver's license or get a blood sample.

But they came here anyway because their job brought them here so that they could make their six figures and sneer at you in the grocery store when you say, "Excuse me, can I move your cart so I can get by?" I swear, some of them wait in the parking lot for you so they can mow you down with their Escalades while they are talking on their Blackberry complaining to their friends that it's so humid here.

My advice to these whiners, the cleaned up version is... Get some manners, buy some Aqua Net for those humid days, a pair of Keds will make your feet feel better, if you bought that house because it was bigger than the Jones', sell it, because replacing the roof on it is going to cost you fifteen grand at least, cotton pedal pushers and a t-shirt from Target are much cooler than the bamboo slacks and silk shirt from Nordstroms and a Volkswagen will fit into the parking space at the mall much easier.

Now go home.