Your Help is Appreciated, But…

Darla McCorkle/Columnist

While I appreciate all of you that have reached out with tips on local houses for sale I feel like maybe I didn’t make myself clear. I don’t want to stay in Jefferson. That doesn’t mean I want to move out into the county either. For the prices homes are going for here I can buy a brand new bigger home in another county. I have posted enough homes on Facebook for y’all to understand Marion County has priced itself into this weird bubble. 

But it isn’t just the prices, y’all. 

I’m ready to live in a new city. Even if it is just Linden or Atlanta or Marshall or going back to Texarkana. 

For the last week Hugh has had a disc bulging in the middle of his back. His two back surgeries were on his lower back. Twice this week he couldn’t feel his legs. Whether he wants to admit it or not, he can’t do another back surgery from Jefferson. Does it not scare y’all thinking about growing old or needing care from a location that is literally and hour away from an ER? Yes, Marshall has an emergency room but it is a skeleton crew. They will get you stable and move you to Longview to die. I’ve seen it happen too many times to ignore it. 

Hugh’s pain management is in Texarkana. The closest MRI he can get is Atlanta but usually its Longview. Every month he drives to Texarkana to do all our shopping and to do the shopping for a relative he cares for. He then turns around in the same month and does it again for his pain management.  

He is likely going to need another back surgery and physical therapy. Does Jefferson have anything that will make it safe for him to live here and have continuing healthcare? Does it have it for me as I age? 

Y’all have been letting volunteers wrangle your animal problem since I got here. Even after the scandal happened you put it back in the hands of volunteers. 

Plus, there’s Atticus. Atticus deserves a bigger pond of friends and potential mates. I’m sorta sick of seeing his most fulfilling conversations with people over 40. He deserves a chance bigger than what is here. He could go off to college for his last couple of years but even he has said the extra cost to have the “college experience” would only increase the debt. He has specialists and therapists that know his history and he has a trusting relationship with. And guess what? None of them are in Jefferson. 

And lastly, there’s me. 

I came to Jefferson because of Hugh. I stayed in Jefferson because of Hugh. I worked as an innkeeper for over a decade back when it was a lot harder of a job in a house I didn’t pick. Doing a job I didn’t ever want. We then moved and it was fine doing Marion County Herald with Hugh even though it ended after he had two back surgeries. But then he bought the Jimp with Austin and I refused to have anything to do with it because I wasn’t a part of it. Even after Austin was gone I considered it his. Frankly, I am done working for free because I’m in a relationship with someone that has a business that needs help. 

So when we got married, I told him then if he wanted to pay me and pay Atticus I’d do a column and Atticus could work doing whatever he agreed to pay him.  Again, it’s pennies but its not free.

But I’ll say it again, the only thing that is holding Atticus and I to Jefferson is Hugh and the Jimp and he is on the verge of letting cripple him one day. And honestly, when he has surgery again and can’t even walk anymore with a cane what’s this weekly paper going to do to help him? He doesn’t see it but the two people that will be there are me and Atticus and we deserve a town that has more resources than Jefferson. As it is right now if he ever goes back through back surgery the sidewalks won’t even allow him to use a walker. It’s ridiculous here and y’all know it!  

All cities have issues. I’m well aware of that. My parents were in politics the whole time I was growing up. And we will greatly miss our friends here. But I have friends I’ve known since I was 19 that live on the East Coast and staying in touch is easier than ever with social media. And I also have family that it would be easier to call on for help or who can call on me for help.