April 15, 2008
AW Blog Chain – New Beginnings
It’s time for the April Blog Chain brought to you by the members of AW! It’s been an interesting month, weaving from beginnings of novels, fitness, and most recently, Fantastical Imagination and Life In Scribbletown have talked about allergies.
I have to admit, I’m one of the lucky ones who doesn’t suffer from allergies. I did for three years I spent away from my native land. No, I didn’t move out of the country for that period of time, I moved to Nebraska. I’m still not quite sure whether it was simply vegetation I wasn’t accustomed to or if I was allergic to the state itself, either is feasible. Now, I’m back in Wisconsin’s “dairy air” and life is well again.
Nebraska wasn’t a planned move. I was young, recently divorced, and it was time to start over. My then-boyfriend (now husband) took me to Nebraska for Christmas the first year we were together. When it was time to go, his mom got upset, and somehow that led to us moving out there. Less than four years later, we came to Wisconsin for a visit, I got upset when it was time to go home, and we wound up moving back.
I’d like to think all that moving wasn’t for nothing. In that time, I learned many things and grew as a person. Being from a small town, I dreamed of the day when I would be an adult and move away. Once I moved, I found myself homesick. Not only did I miss my family, I missed Wisconsin.
I’m lucky to be from a beautiful state. We have hills and trees, winding roads you can take for a Sunday drive through the countryside. Nebraska was flat and I’m pretty sure they have a law against curvy roads. Every road in the country seemed to form neat one mile squares. The upside was that you knew how far to the next intersection and it was easy to figure out how many more excruciating miles until you arrived. I once had a job on the north side of Madison, and from my house in Oregon it was 35 miles. Those were 35 glorious miles, even with Beltline traffic. In Nebraska, it was 25 miles from our house to my sister-in-law’s. I don’t understand how a drive that is 10 miles shorter could feel 100 miles longer.
Many times during that first winter, I would hear, “Wisconsin, eh? Heard it gets cold up there.” The truth is, I never felt colder than my winters in Nebraska. We have these things called trees that break the wind. How does the state that is home to the Arbor Day Foundation and thrives on agriculture not have tree lines to break the winds? And then they wonder why they have dust storms that roll on for miles, making the middle of the day dark and treacherous!
I’d like to think that my move away and my subsequent move home gave me a serious of new beginnings. First, I was able to move away and see what the world was like (yes, Nebraska may not have been the best choice for that). More importantly, I had a second new beginning when I moved home. The minor annoyances of living in the same area you grew up are now pleasantries that put a smile on my face. I now understand the value of having your family close to you. More importantly, it removed the “what-if” factor. I don’t have to wonder if the grass is greener somewhere else. Right here in my little town, the grass is made plenty green by having my family with me.
Next up in the chain is Polyamory From the Inside Out.
While you’re cruising the blogosphere, be sure to check out all of this month’s participants!
A New Blogging Gig
Recently, a fellow forum member at AW posted saying she had begun blogging for MyZip.net. The concept is to have a blogger for every zip code. Living in a small town, part of me figured it’d be worth looking into. Since our small town has an active blogging community, I worried someone else would already have scooped up this opportunity.
I sent my information and was offered the blog for my zip code. There are only a couple of posts right now, but I hope to make 53536.net a good, informative site. I have many ideas for getting information about Evansville out to the world. I hope to send some emails, talk to some people, and build a truly informative resource for those who want everything they need to know in front of them at 2am in their pajamas.
I will keep my personal opinions on Evansville here and keep the MyZip site as fact based as possible. If you wanted to learn more about our little town, I hope you’ll stop by!
