Oh, well if it wasn't uphill both ways, then it doesn't even count does it?
I think many of our parents and grandparents have stories just like yours. I know mine did. Doesn't really change how we see things though. You thought 7 miles was far because your experience was that everyone lived within 2 miles or less of the school they went too. I don't think it's bad at all because I grew up much farther than that from the school I attended. The distance from the school was something we looked at when we purchased our land. I wanted to be sure it was close enough that I didn't mind running back and forth when they got old enough to start sports. And thank goodness I thought of that because from Aug to March they are having practice 3-4 days a week for something.