Connections

I started reading a blog quite by accident. I think it was a link from someone elses blog that linked from even another blog. I first found it amusing, then, as I continued to read it I found I was hooked. Partially by the fact that this person grew up in my hometown. If not my hometown, at least my state. Iowa. CW never actually tells us where in Iowa he grew up, or which state university he went to school, but in reading his blog posts I found clues. A dropped note here or there (his wife lived in the Towers), etc. I could be wrong, but if I am it's enough of a similarity to make me believe he was from here.

It made me take another look at where I'm from. Unlike CW, who moved to several states and now appears to reside in Atlanta, Georgia, I have stayed in my little community. I lived in some tiny towns growing up, but my folks kept going back to the 'big city' of Des Moines. Couldn't stay away.

I was raised a 'town kid'. Oh, my family went camping out to the woods in the state parks - even going to Colorado and Wyoming and Kentucky. But that wasn't my life. I enjoyed it, but I lived in the Great Suburbia. I remember when I was in high school they even came out with a book called "Suburbia"and we studied it in Humanities class. My school was really on the cutting edge even to have a class called Humanities. We studied things like the song lyrics to Simon and Garfunkel albums and why we all wear masks.

As a young divorced woman with two children, I found myself in love with and married to a wonderful man. Someday I'll tell you that story! The point being, I now live in the country surrounded by corn and soybean fields that create our livelihood. I am on a perpetual camping trip through life. A pretty cushy one, I admit, but nonetheless it's been pretty cool. And, I'm living in this mid-sized college town where my DH has lived his entire life and where I have made my home now for over twenty-five years. We've raised our children here, and two of them have actually graduated or will graduate from this university - as well as my SIL2B has graduated from there and my SIL is planning on returning to finish his degree, too.

The stories I've been reading of CW's life experiences in Iowa have led me to have a different perspective on this part of the country. It's interesting to see how someone else views "the Beast" (his term for the Iowa winter). I enjoy reading of his college escapades and drunken adventures - most of which seem to re-occur from time to time in his 'old age'. I never made it to college as a student, but worked on the college campus for several years - actually admitting those poor confused freshmen into the life. I may have never been to one of his parties on the frat house lawn, but I've walked and driven past them many a warm summer night with the windows open and the music and laughter rolling out over the cars.

I find a rather strange bond with someone who has shared my town and some of my experiences. I find it heartwarming that as much as he loves his adopted city, he still seems to have good thoughts of family, friends, and memories still based here. I want to be young and share some of those experiences again. I guess I'll just have to connect from time to time as I read his blog and try and remember my own experiences here to share.