home sweet home

When I first started writing for this blog, I did not think much about being part of the "Midwest". Of course, after I joined, I heard the term used all over the place (and not always in the nicest of places). I started to think more about what it means to live where we do.

Somewhere in the last month or so, I read a book about a woman from an area similar to our own Midwest. In the book she moved to New Orleans area and began to realize how much she missed the things that were "home" to her - grassy fields, woods, cornfields, moving/running water. It occurred to me (hey, I never said I was the brightest person...) that not everyone has immediate access to the things that are so normal to those living in the Midwest. Then, I was given a copy of Midwest Living last week. I smiled as I looked through the magazine and read about things that were already familiar to me.


This past week, the weather has started to make the change into fall/autumn, and I started to think about our trips to the pumpkin patch. I started talking to a friend who lives a little further North, and she said she had never been to a pumpkin patch. Once again, I was surprised that this was not the norm for all families during this time of year. Picking pumpkins & apples, taking hay rides, and even enjoying an occasional corn maze. That is what fall is all about here.

Today we spent the morning hiking (walking the boardwalk trail) at a local preserve. As I walked through the woods with my kids, I realized that I could not be more at home anywhere else. I thought of all of the things that I love about where we live. I love the grass, the woods & the running water of the local creeks and rivers. I love the change of seasons. I love the pumpkin patch and taking hay rides, and I even love the snow when it comes (and it will be here before we know it!!).

I thought about all of the places that I've ever wanted to see, or the places that I have been. I decided that no matter where I ever go in life, the Midwest is where I will always call Home.

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Just for fun, you can read 101 reasons why people love the Midwest