Ohio

they say you can't go home again, and i'm never quite sure what to think about this. i'm independent and determined and a dreamer and can do whatever i want in my life. if i want to go home again, who's to tell me i can't? but the question is always, do i even want to? i'm independent and determined and a dreamer and love to spread my wings and go to new places. why stay in one area your whole life?

i grew up in south-central ohio. my town is steeped in american indian history as well as state history. the downtown is (or was) what other towns spend a lot of money trying to recreate. it's the northern border of "southern ohio" to the west, it's flat like so much of the midwest. to the east, it's beautiful rolling hills that are the foothills of the appalachians. the culture matches that mix as well. midwestern and appalachian in one. proud farmers next to, well, appalachians. it's a small town with small town people, yet it's the shopping hub for a pretty large geographical area. so don't call us small town...

on my father's side, my family has been in that county as far as we can trace back. both my parents grew up on farms or worked for larger farmers. my parents, especially my dad, know so much about that land and the farms. he grew up with his dad taking him hunting through those hills, he's walked them. his dad farmed for some of the biggest farms in the county. they know the last names of people, know houses and land by the names of the generations who have lived there. i grew up bored to death in the backseat as my parents took sunday drives through the fields, reminiscing of farm life and days gone by.

because of all this, i've had an underlying pride for the farmer, for the midwest, for appalachia, and for big, old farmhouses. every time i go back to ohio, i get so excited to drive through the rolling country side, looking at the century-old farmhouses, wishing i could live in one someday. i love the miles and miles of corn and soybean fields. it's the richest, most beautiful shade of green my eyes know. i love watching the fields of cattle and other farm animals, the old barns. maybe what i miss most of all is being able to buy locally grown produce and meats (without driving to the trendy side of town and paying twice as what the grocery store charges for it!)

there are so many reasons why i probably will never move back there. but i want alena to know where her roots lie and to appreciate farm life, even though she'll be 2 generations removed from it (i've never lived or worked on a farm myself!)

even so, there's so much emotion that runs through me when i visit my home state that i can't reduce it to words. i suppose my soul just knows when it's home.