"I don't want to go. There isn't anything there and it's boring and flat and stupid."
"You'll learn to like it."
"No I won't."
This was my reaction to being told we were moving to Nebraska after my father's retirement from the Air Force. I was about 12. I had no basis for my claims that Nebraska was boring and that there wasn't anything to do there. I was still feeling bitter about moving away from Texas a year before, where I had had some of the best times of my life and made some very special friends. My parents could have said we were moving to Disneyland and I still would've complained. Unless we were moving back to Texas to our lovely stone house with the black widow spiders and the scorpions and tarantulas and snakes and giant blue wasps and fire ants and 110 degree weather and cactus and tumbleweeds and blowing dust and dirt, I wanted no part of it. I was stubbornly holding on to that life with clenched fists...Texas was my home, and just as soon as I was old enough, I was going back to reclaim the life that had been so unjustly torn away from me.
I'm now 25 years old, and I've been living in Nebraska ever since. I've graduated from high school and college here, learned what it means to be a Husker fan, learned how to detassle (my computer doesn't even recognize the word), and lived in the land of The Good Life long enough to see what Nebraska truly consists of, the beauty it contains, the jewels that it offers that cannot be found elsewhere.
Before I moved here, and even for the first few years in the state, I didn't get why anybody would want to live in Nebraska. There's corn and cows, and that's it. It's boring. It's flat. It's lame.
Many people from outside the state reciprocated my resentment. People told me it was a "nothing state". People told me it was a wasteland. People told me it was ugly. Somebody even told me once, "Johanna, I don't know why we even claim that state".
If somebody makes such a comment in front of me these days, even if it is offhand and they aren't really too serious, they better sit down and buckle up, because they are going to get a passionate lecture about the merits of this state and the reasons why it is just as good as all the other states from a person who now considers herself a Nebraskan. And once their education is complete, they are going to be instructed to not insult the state again if they know what's good for them, because if they think Nebraska is ugly or lame or a wasteland without purpose, then they obviously either haven't been there or haven't been paying attention. Nebraska is my adopted home state. I will not let you insult it.
One of the wonderful things about this country of ours is how different all the states are. You can find mountains, beaches, rivers, cities, valleys, tundras (I'm looking at YOU, Minnesota!), deserts, fields, hills, farms, swamps, forests, and pretty much every terrain you can imagine. Our country is amazing and beautiful. It feeds us, shelters us, gives us rain and sunshine and crops in abundance, and is full of beauty and splendor.
There is no piece of America that is expendable, understand? Not California, not Alaska, not New York, not Kansas, Not Hawaii, not Rhode Island, and sure as heck not Nebraska.
Nebraska is the heart of the midwest, the very center of the country. We have farms that help to feed the rest of the nation. Blood is shipped from the midwest to all over the country, because the people here generally think a lot about others and are faithful to donate. We have beautiful seasons, rolling hills, streams and rivers. Our sunsets are to die for. The people here are laid-back and friendly, they are generous and enjoy the simple things. There is a sense of community and family felt here that I've never felt anywhere else. Nebraska truly does welcome you.
As I think about my move up north to Minnesota in just a few short weeks, it's hard to think about leaving my family. It's hard to think about leaving the church I've become a part of and grown to love. It's so very hard to think of leaving my niece and nephew...of not being close by when more babies are born. And it's also hard to think about leaving the state itself; the state that has been my home for far longer than any other place ever has.
However, I refuse to make the same mistake twice. I held tightly to my Texas life, and to everything I had there, and for that reason, when we moved away I felt like I was being torn in two. That could've been prevented if I had not held so tightly; if I had understood that my life is not my own.
So now, as this chapter of my life draws to a close and a new one is about to begin, I am simply trying to focus on being thankful to God for everything that I've had for the past 13+ years. For the family that I've had close for all this time. For the school I've had and the start I've been given in a career. For the privilege to live in my parents' house and enjoy my family, especially in the light of knowing now that I am moving away. For the friends that I've made. For the good times and adventures.
And I am also thankful to the great state of Nebraska, for welcoming a girl who had nowhere to call home, for teaching her the value of honest hard work, for giving her the opportunity to go to college and earn a wage, for giving her roots, and then wings, for showing her some of the most beautiful things she has ever seen in her life, from sunsets to flowers to microscopic wonders that boggle the mind.
And as I begin to pack my life into boxes and realize that moving away is real and happening soon, I try to hold loosely my Nebraska life, difficult though it may be.
Goodbye, sweet Nebraska. Thank you for all the adventures. You are beautiful and full of splendor, and don't ever let anybody tell you different! GO BIG RED!
Nebraska State Song:
Beautiful Nebraska, peaceful prairieland,
Laced with many rivers, and the hills of sand;
Dark green valleys cradled in the earth,
Rain and sunshine bring abundant birth.
Beautiful Nebraska, as you look around,
You will find a rainbow reaching to the ground;
All these wonders by the Master's hand;
Beautiful Nebraska land.
We are so proud of this state where we live,
There is no place that has so much to give.
Beautiful Nebraska, as you look around,
You will find a rainbow reaching to the ground;
All these wonders by the Master's hand,
Beautiful Nebraska Land.
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