Dixie...
aka DixieKin
Great Smoky Mtns, NC
Dixie is a trailname used for letterboxing as well as a way of life.
I was born and raised in these same mountains that I still call home...These southern Appalachian mountains are apart of who I am. You can not know me without understanding that my life, family and world came from a strong
and proud mountain people with heritage and roots in the scott-irish pioneers that settled here in the 1800's and the proud Cherokee people that are native to these lands.
From a young age in elementary school I had a strong belief that I should never forget the way my people talked and lived...even though teachers were telling me it was bad
or showed ignorance. Were the cherokee people ignorant because they wanted to hold onto their language or what made them the people they were? I think not! So, even though the odds were stacked against me,
and teachers like to give me bad marks for my stubborness, I have tried to hang onto some of the old stories and old ways of my people before me.
Letterboxing came into my life like a storm. It quickly became an addiction... but a much needed and welcomed one!
Once i discovered the joys of "planting" those letterbox treasures for others to find and enjoy...
these mountains became a place brimming with treasures to seek :-)
It became clear that I was a "planter" much more than a "finder".
It is just too danged fun placing the boxes out there like bait and sitting back waiting on the first bite!
besides...I love the interaction and feedback I get from folks who have found my boxes and enjoy the history and the carvings.
The kids are obviously the most important thing to me.
I have two...both teenagers! The boy "my bubba" (Michael) is the oldest and "Mojo" (Katie Jo) is his younger sister.
They are wonderful...they are gorgeous! I would protect them at all costs. I instantly, without being able to control it, become like a mama bear if I feel my kids have even been slightly dangered.
It's a very odd thing for me. Me... a person who would never hurt anyone...turns seriously aggressive if my kids are in harms way or threatened.
As my kids grow up... I fear the day when they leave. Seems like nothing can prepare me for it. They are still my babies...no matter how big :-)
Fastpitch Softball is probably the biggest thing in my life after my kids! "My Bubba" used to play baseball until the shoulder injury pretty much took him out.
Baseball was then just as big for us as softball. However, now softball has took a front seat. We don't just dabble in it a little here and there... we LIVE it!!
MoJo has such a good attitude about playing. I think she would play everyday if she had the chance.
*brag alert* not only does she play...she plays WELL. When MoJo is "on" in her pitching...she is a force to reckon with and a sight to behold.
No one could be any more proud of her accomplishments. Hopefully she will have a long career of softball ahead of her.
We spend each good chance we have in the warm months playing tournaments...not games...but tournaments where we sometimes will play 8 or 9 games within a weekend.
They are intense and addictive!
Genealogy is another big interest of mine. Finding family ties through research of documentent has been exceptionally tough since many poor folks of the appalachias just didn't keep the good records necessary to document life before 1900.
Boy oh boy...what a major find it would be for records to the "old part" of Keener cemetery to surface. I suppose I can keep dreaming...and keep looking for answers.
I have an extensive website for genealogy from these mountains at MountainKin.org but it is badly outdated.
Since I had used a program to generate pages instead of writing the code myself it is jumbled and almost impossible to update without wiping out all the work.
I do hope to get it all fixed someday. For now...the site has some very useful info and census records etc but I just don't like the design.
I have done alot of things and seems like "Dixie" has always been part of it.
I love southern history and folklore. Every new venture or project has dixie as part of the name etc.
It's always been that way! Guess my real name shoulda been Dixie... but then again, it maybe wouldn't be as fun using it then.