Why Blowing ‘This Popsicle Stand’ Didn’t Work

When I was younger, like most itchy-teens longing to get out into this big ol' world, I declared that I was going to "blow this popsicle stand" for the wide open spaces of city life. *cue the laughter...especially that of my parents* What did I learn?

A LOT! I learned a lot about myself, my hometowns, my family and mostly, what I missed about the muddy Mississippi. All of these things had such a profound impact on my identity that once I realized I had been taking a little bit of 'home' with me everywhere I went, it made me long for 'home' even more.  I don't regret my experiences elsewhere and certainly still love traveling, but Dorothy said it best, "There's no place like home."

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so. This article popped up in my Facebook newsfeed, of all things, what the author loves about Iowa! It was too good not to share.

I  loved what she wrote here:

But it turns out, Iowa, that everyone else is going to the beach, too. It turns out that people being “remarkably homogenous” has everything to do with who you choose to be around. It turns out that too much curry is just plain nauseating. It turns out that buildings that touch the sky can’t help but hide it from view, too. And as for running in the green, rolling hills of a coastal winter, I did that maybe once.