Scrolling through twitter 

On a Thursday afternoon

I sit in my classroom 

Peering over the red rooftops

The rain hits the roof

In our new school building

The CDC announces 100,000 Americans died from drug overdoses 

during 12 months of the pandemic

Appalachia was hit devastatingly hard

I feel my heart drop to my stomach

That’s my home

My mind 

Leaves Aarhus

taking me back to Marietta  

For a moment or two

I’m six years old

Boarding the big, yellow school bus

Looking at the cows across the street

The soft sound 

of Appalachian rain hits the tin roof

my bus driver greets me

his eyes kind

His voice warm

I get off at the next stop

It’s time for school

And that is my home, too

I sit in school, peering over the red rooftops

The rain hits the roof

In our new school building

And i think more about 

My home

How can both these stories

exist in my mind

at the same time?

Every day

I see strangers

At the grocery store

Always warm, 

Always smiling

What they may be going through

Unknown to me

In Ohio,

The people are unbelievably strong

Like the oak trees in my back yard

The people are unflinchingly kind

I admire them deeply

This is my home

Today

I think about 

the 90 out of 100,000 people 

Dead from overdose in West Virginia

So close to my home

Why?

I want better for those people

I want better for those families

I want better for my home

Part of my heart is in Denmark

But another part lies in the foothills of Appalachia

May my heartbreak

be motivation

That is my home

May I represent it well

To give back someday,

No matter where I end up

That is my greatest dream

Dear Ohio,

sometimes when I look out the window,

I think of you

With love,

Grace