Roots

This week I'm away from my family.
Flying solo.

It took 5 hrs of solid driving to get here which gave me a lot of time to think.
Here is the shortened running dialogue with myself I had on Sunday.

• Am I ever going to get there?
• Wow, this is in the middle of nowhere.
• What do people do here?
• Why do people stay here?

While most of those questions are rhetorical for a city slicker like me, to many, the answer is clear.

Yes, I am in rural Minnesota just this week but 80% of our nation's inhabitants live outside urban areas.

80% live in the "country"

I was born and raised in the suburbs. Many different states but all in the suburbs of a major cities. I didn't live in the country until I had 2 kids.  That only lasted 1 1/2 years not because I disliked it but because people moved out to where we were and made the country less..well.. country.

My parents grew up in South Dakota (rural).
Their parents grew up in South Dakota (rural).
My husband, his parents and his parents parents all lived in Wyoming (really rural).

So when I do look back, I see my roots. My country roots. I don't have to live or have grown up in the country but I sure have it in my blood. 

 I feel right at home here in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.