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I Live In Rural America. I Like That You Consider It Fly Over Country.

We are reaching a point in America's social fabric where soon 70% of the population will live in an urban area.  Boy, if that's not a statistic that makes you think we are all followers, I don't know what is.  7 in 10 Americans will soon not know where their food comes from, they will not know what a farm or ranch looks like, they will not understand what sense of community and strength of personal character it takes to live isolated from large crowds, Walmart, Target and....gasp....dare I say Starbucks! (I mean that too, being away from decent coffee can wear you down real quick.) And that's okay, no really it is.  I don't want more people living near me.  You don't pack up your bags, head to the upper Midwest in your early twenties and find yourself living in Brule County, South Dakota, and not love the wide open space.  More people aren't going to move here, but I would sure like to keep the one's we have.  

More importantly, I would like for people to look at rural communities, and small towns and see that there is opportunity, if you want to live the lifestyle.  I don't want people to crave small town living, but never come to it because they don't see opportunity.  The latter is what worries me.   It worries me to see moms, dads, aunts, uncles and grandparents tell their children to leave, to go some where they can 'spread their wings' or 'make a difference,' because you know what, you can make a difference no matter where you are.  Size does not matter.

We have been our own worst enemy.  Change has to start from within, and frankly small towns across this country, but particularly in the Midwest, have done a terrible job of keeping our youth.  We have raised them, educated them, given them sense of community and understanding of responsibility.  And then lined them up and pushed them out on the first ticket towards what we view as opportunity.  After all, big dreams can't happen in a small town can they?  Surely no one wants to raise a child that wants to stay back in the family business, or that wants to open a local small town store.  Or, heaven forbid, teach at a small rural school.  See, that's where I think the problem starts.  We all want our kids to be succesful, and I ask, successful against whose measuring stick?  Is it success to move to the huge urban centers in America and follow the same path as well over half of all other American's?  Is the only way to success working for big box companies, living in standard cookie cutter housing?  Success to not only not understand but not even know where your food sources come from? There is no doubt that it is for some people, and I respect and support their life choice.  I am happy we have large cities and I love to visit them.  But purposefully pushing our children from rural hometowns and not just supporting their choices but convincing them that no matter what, no matter how much they miss us, love us, want to be part of our community - it's just not the successful choice.  That's plain silly.

This sounds absurd, that a small close knit community wouldn't want to grow it's own, keep those that want to stay.  Sociologists study it, they've written books, lots of books in recent years, around the drain rural America is seeing.  "Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America" (http://www.amazon.com/Hollowing-Out-Middle-Rural-America/dp/0807006149) is a great read- heavy read but enlightening none the less.  We know we like to push the young people out of the community and we know we aren't really friendly to outsiders that want to come into our community.  That sounds like a winning formula and we keep allowing it to happen.

We have to stop it right now.  We have to find a way to connect early and effectively with kids.  I'm not talking about teenagers, I am talking about 7 and 8 year olds.  That's when we need to start to make the strong connection that the small town they are growing up in needs them just as much or even more than the big world beyond.  I'm not saying the big world beyond doesn't need experienced - because believe you me, it does.

It is time that small towns and rural communities change their thinking.  We can teach our children that they can live big in a small town.  We can stop telling them they need to live some where else to live their dreams, because, frankly that is just not true.  Let's start showing our young children, as early as we can, that being part of a small community is important.  That we need them, we need their ideas, their hands, their hearts.  Embrace the opportunity we have to work side by side and hand in hand with our future and stop the cycle of telling our children we aren't good enough.

A Fifth.

Every Friday I will share five things.  Five things I love, five thoughts I have, whatever it might be.  I will share five.

This week:  Five Baby Girl (and maybe bigger girl too) dresses for Easter.
Easter is early this year - we need to be thinking about these things....


1.

2.

3.

                    4.

5.

                                       

Every one of these could come and live at my house...

This Could Be Life Changing

HOW TO CLEAN A GAS RANGE TOP

January 20, 2016

Get yourself on over to Jones Design Company for this post.  I know it's super hip and sexy to post about cleaning a gas range, but gosh darn it, I need this information.  Because, duh, I have a gas range and I need things clean, like 'need them clean or my mind is not at rest.'  I know it's a problem, and I am working on it.

A Pick Me Up

I need warmer weather.  

There I said it.  And now I will channel it through pictures.

Ok, this last one was over Christmas, it's not really there to channel warm weather thoughts.  But she's just too cute not to put on here.  Rory + Rosie.  Besties.

Own It. Not Because I Said So, but Because You Can.

I need to work at placing my thoughts on here more often.  Not because I am looking to gain followers - I could really care less who sees this.  I am not looking to impart my thoughts, beliefs, or lifestyle on you.  Frankly, I think that's the problem with media (social or otherwise), blogs and lifestyle show hosts -- no one really cares. I mean they say they care, we say we care, we read it, we watch it - but when it comes down to it, we aren't reading and watching to change.  It didn't make some kind of an impact.  Someone's blog on their beliefs and ideals rarely gives a profound enough impact that we actually change.  And most lifestyle bloggers and TV personalities live in some ideal world where they THINK they do make a difference.  Want to make a difference?  DO something.  Don't write about what you think about it.

Yes, I said DO something.  And here I am, ranting that lifestyle bloggers and television personalities like to get on their soap boxes, about to hop right on up on mine.  Some how, in the world of social media and internet blog posts we've let ourselves get lost in a fantasy world.  One where we think pretty writing pieces that preach about how we should all be living makes us better.  I am going to say it, because it's been bothering me for awhile -- they do not.  Reading is important, fiction or non fiction; a murder mystery, romance, sci-fi thriller or documentary is something that I love and I value.  Reading news, blog posts, even digital print from any source also provides great entertainment.  But if you are looking to make a difference in the world, looking to find self worth, looking to do something in your life that you can reflect back on and think - I did something good - please do not start by writing about how wonderful you are.

Celebrities like to do this, you see them, those lovely actresses we've all enjoyed on a great TV show or movie.  And pretty soon, if you watch closely you can see they are working hard, in all sorts of shows and all over the silver screen.  Next thing you know, they can't get their bucket full from just acting.  Nope.  They want to share their life with the world, show how living the 'right way' can make  you a successful actress.  I am going to tell you - no matter how much you read their blog, no matter how much you watch their cooking show - you will not have their success.  Celebrate their success - read their posts and cook the shit out of their recipes because they are fun and awesome and clever, but please remember you will not have their success.

We are unique, we all have great talents and great misgivings.  I love that about humans, we need to lift up imperfection.  I don't want people telling me how much better they are than me, and I doubt you do either.  I am so sick and tired of reading how life is a bowl of cherries, how if you love God, and you love your family, and you dress really cute and you eat only whole grains and fish you will feel so much better.  That's a lie too.  I love God, I love my family, heck I even volunteer and exercise a lot (it is not for health reasons, if I didn't run I would go crazy) and sometimes my life is still crappy.  Oh, who am I kidding, there are a lot of times that I don't catch the break I think I deserve.

My point is this - don't read things or watch things because you want to be those people.  Do not feel bad about your life because it isn't what others think it should be.  Own your happiness and please don't read my posts to find it.