Saturday, February 6, 2010

A Little Bit of Background Information

My son is 16 and my daughter is 14 and I’ve been divorced from their father since 1997. After the divorce, I put myself through nursing school and became an RN (2000). I worked for a few years and then went back to school to become a nurse practitioner (2009). It wasn’t always easy, but I made it…WE made it! I planned to stay close to my parents after graduation, but the kids and I discussed it decided to consider moving to a new place. The children and I went on interviews and made the unanimous decision to move. Within three months of graduation we moved six hours away from our family and everything familiar – to a rural mountain town of just 500 people. The kids were used to going to a small Catholic school so we thought the school size was perfect. I owe more than my share of money to Sallie Mae and the government has federal student loan repayment programs in rural towns. Although it seemed like a perfect fit at first, things didn’t really fall into place right away. I was looking forward to a slower pace and a more relaxed environment, but it hasn’t been quite what I’ve expected…

Where we live:
Population is 500
Total area 0.5 square miles
Median age is 49 years
Racial makeup is 99.9% white
225 households, 15% of households are single mothers
For every 10 females over the age of 18, there are only 6 males
Median male income is $21,000, median female income is $17,000