I have been inspired to post after I had to cut a facebook status update in half in order to make it fit. I thought to myself, "Why don't I just blog about this?"
So here it is:
I. MISS. THE COUNTRY.
I'm not sure what it was that led me to believe I was looooved the city and at heart couldn't stand to live in the country forever. I remember, as I packed up all of our belongings in Jamestown, IN, telling Tim that I never wanted to move back. I wasn't referring to Indiana in general... it was more that never again did I want to live somewhere so remote. I didn't want to have to drive 45 minutes to get to a mall. I didn't want to drive 30 minutes to go to the grocery store or see a doctor. I was soooo excited to move to where there was a Whole Foods just 15 minutes away and one of the best cities in the United States so close by.
My husband has always been proud to be from Indiana. It's a state he loves and not one that I loathe, but I definitely did not appreciate what I had while I had it. Isn't that the story of our lives, though?
Things I miss about the Jamestown/Lebanon area:
Lebanon is actually a nice sized town with an amazing Walmart, a goodwill, a hospital. One thing that separates Lebanon from the suburbs of Chicago, however, is that there are parts of it that are actually in the country. You can buy a house in Lebanon amongst fields and also be relatively close to everything you need. I bring this up because I definitely could not live where I had to drive hours to get to the nearest gas station or church. I loved living in the country.... I never want to live in backwoods country.... I'm talking more like farmland and cornfields.
backwoods is a form of:
back·woodsnoun (plural) /ˈbakˈwo͝odz/
backwoods, plural - Remote uncleared forest land
- A remote or sparsely inhabited region, esp. one considered backward
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Nope, not for me. :)
I miss walking down the street with Tim & Nash, where we would end up in cornfields that were magical at dusk. (or even during the day, to be honest... just more magical at dusk!)
I miss the quiet.
I miss the local town stuff that went on.
I miss that when you'd stop at the gas station for a treat while on a walk in the evening, you would most likely see at least one person you recognized.
I also miss getting embarrassed that the same girl working at the gas station witnessed me buying myself a treat on a daily basis. :)
I MISS THE DAIRY BAR.
I miss a lack of traffic.
The country is peaceful!! Country people are my kind of people. There, I said it. There is simplicity and honesty in people from Jamestown and Lebanon that you don't see as often here (I don't include "the church" in this...) People are generally satisfied with being simple and don't need a lot of things or possessions to fill up their lives. I realize that this is an over generalization and that not all people from where I was living in Indiana are this way, but I do currently live in one of the wealthiest areas of the country... and it has given me much perspective.
Only thing I don't miss about where I used to live?
tornadoes!!!
We don't have as many of those where I'm at now and I've told Tim that if we ever moved back, my only requirement for our house is that it has a basement we can flee to.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure that we will ever go back for good. :(
As we sat in the backyard of Andy's parent's house, Gabrijel, a long time friend of my sister's and bridesman at her wedding, joked, "I feel closer to God out here!" Their house is quite literally in the middle of nowhere and I love everything about their surroundings (and them...) I'll leave you with an uploaded picture of his that I stole because I know he wouldn't mind :)
