Honorary Jersey Girl

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This afternoon, I was working on a blog post when my daughter started texting me questions about high school. What was the name of my town? What year did I graduate? Did I remember this person? That one? This street? That store?

Turns out, one of her professors -- in Connecticut -- is from a town just two towns away from where I went to high school.

I always enjoy texting with my daughter and talking to her, but these exchanges were particularly fun.  As much as I enjoyed the resulting trip down memory lane, I think I enjoyed her excitement over the names and places that were so familiar to both her professor -- whom I've never met -- and her mother.

It's no secret that I'm a Jersey girl and, although I'm aware that I've spent more of my life in PA than NJ, I'm a little sad that my daughter isn't a Jersey girl, too but, instead, a Pennsylvanian. Not that there's anything wrong with PA -- it's been my home for decades.

It's just not New Jersey.

When I meet my students at the beginning of the semester, I reveal my Jersey heritage and often find fellow Jersey girls (and boys) among those with whom I'll be spending my semester. I ask them to say hi to Jersey for me when they go home for break and some even come back with stories for me.

So this afternoon, feeling the zing of my daughter's excitement as we compared names and dates and places brought a little bit of my home state into my day. And, from where I sit, a little bit of Jersey is always a good thing.

Especially when it's channeled through my favorite honorary Jersey girl.