I have a few exciting things going on, and so much to blog about! We have Emersyn's big girl room painted. It is going to be so adorable! Tempted to do a sneak preview right now, but I'm going to wait until it's complete.
Next, I am realllly REALLY excited that Heather from "Charmed Life Chronicles" has tagged me in her recent post and has asked some fun questions of me! I DO plan on doing this tomorrow as well…in the meantime, check out Heather's blog. It's fun!
Right now, I'm going to talk about North Dakota.
Where my hubby is en route to at this minute (NFL draft party called his name. Yes, he is obsessed.)
Where all of my dear family lives.
Where many of my dear friends live.
And, as I have found, a great conversation starter at work. I see patients from all over the country…all over the world. It's very intriguing. I get the question every day…"where are you from?" Mayo is huge in the Rochester area….over 40,000 employees. I have no idea how many of those employees actually grew up here, but I would guess it is not too many. Only a handful of employees that I know are natives to the area. Of course, I know such a small fraction of the employees, so I might be way off. Just a guess!
At any rate, I am asked multiple times daily "where are you from?"
"I grew up in North Dakota. We have lived in Minnesota 3 ½ years though".
And I get the following (all of which are true stories)…
"Oh, so the winters here must feel warm to you!" (Side note: the winters here are much more mild than ND winters and I attribute that to the wind! ND has some CRAZY wind that we do not get in Minnesota….we have more trees and hills. You can watch your dog run away for 3 days in North Dakota. It's that flat!
"Really? Wow I have never met anyone from North Dakota before!"So how far from the Canadian border are you?" (I have actually been to Mexico more often than I have Canada)
"Oh, so you're not far from home at all!" (Kinda sorta. Rochester is in the southeast corner of Minnesota, so we are about 425 miles from our family right now. Long enough drive to make flying ridiculous, yet requires a 4-day weekend to make it worth driving).
(A slight chuckle and no words)…are they judging my "accent"? (PS…if a Southerner travels anywhere in the Midwest, it's not us with the accent. It's the southerner. If a Midwesterner goes south, then it's us with the accent!)"North Dakota…so is it true there are some places there that still don't have electricity?" (Electricity? So overrated. ND even has running water!)
"No, I mean what ethnicity…. do you speak Arabic?" (I was truly stumped. I was then told that the name "Amber" is a popular one in Saudi Arabia. I have dark hair. It's natural and I don't dye it. Stuck with it. Apparently that combination threw this Arabic couple off, they thought they were about to catch a break by finding a fellow Arabian. I hate to disappoint my patients but this is one I couldn't fix!)
"Huh. I didn't picture people from North Dakota to have such a dark complexion….are you part Indian? Er, I mean Native American then?" (No, I am not part Native American at all. I think that said patient was referring to the Scandinavians that are a large part of ND…the pale skin and blue eyes)."What's there to do in North Dakota for fun?" (Fargo is a lot of fun…great college town. Otherwise this can be a tough question to answer. Not like there is Disneyland or some big cool attraction, ya know?)
"I've driven through there before. It's a really flat and boring drive". (You are correct, sir!)
"I just met a few other employees from North Dakota…is anyone left there?" (Yeah, my mom and dad aren't coming down to visit until next week!
Now, all North Dakota jokes aside…I spent 26 years in North Dakota and I might be biased, but it truly is a great state. It often doesn't get the credit it deserves. Of course it's cold and of course it's windy and of course it's flat. Some places are isolated beyond what I can fathom. Some people live 100 miles or more from a Walmart…and even farther from Target…gasp! (I would really be screwed. I have made 3 trips to Target in the past 3 days and wouldn't know what to do if it wasn't 10 minutes away!) I had 12 people in my whole graduating class…and that was 2 small towns combined to form one school. My itty bitty town where I went to school has a café, a bar, and a handful of churches. That's it. (Every small town needs a bar before a post office, right?) I grew up where the buffalo roam…literally…but was a quick drive to a semi-decent sized town that has the necessities (WalMart, restaurants, etc).
My parents only recently sold the home I grew up in. Bittersweet. They had a very beautiful home that we will all miss. They still have the farm and acreage, as my dad runs a business from the farm that he grew up on. They now live about 20 minutes from the home I grew up in, in an equally beautiful home (my dad is an amazing handyman and can take the shell of any old home and make it beyond gorgeous. I wish I could!)
Here are a few pictures from the area I grew up. As you can see, it's pretty. But it is indeed in the boonies! )My dad raises bison in case you are wondering where the buffalo pics fit in).
This farm is not where I lived…it's about 5 miles from that…where my dad grew up and where I spent many hours with my grandparents.
Next question I get a lot…"Will you ever move back to North Dakota?"
I think our parents would like for us to say "Yes, definitely!"
But I am not so sure. We have found a treasure in our little SE Minnesota town. Rochester is continually ranked amongst the best places to live. (I do not live in Rochester but a small town close by).
We have amazing schools and amazing healthcare. I love my job. There are not job opportunities like this waiting for me in North Dakota. Nurses in Minnesota have it good! Crossing the state border into Minnesota alone will increase nurse wages significantly. There are only certain towns in North Dakota that have Target. I'm not so sure I could go back to ND winters (yes, there is a difference even one state over!)
On the other hand, my family is there. (Travis' family too). I really miss my family and sometimes I crave having them close. They love Emersyn to pieces and Emersyn often talks about "Gampa and Gamma Chick". (She calls my mom Grandma Chick(en) but that is for another story!)
I really, really miss my family most days of the week. They are awesome and it is hard for us to make it back to ND as often as we would like.
Now getting back to my weekend ahead...
It's girls weekend!
I'm excited to meet up with an old friend (from North Dakota who I recently found out lives in SE Minnesota as well!) for lunch tomorrow. I haven't seen her in years!
Happy Weekend!
I have ALWAYS wanted to go to North Dakota and I'm not just saying that. I have dream to just get in my car and road trip all over the west. In addition to that, I'm really thrilled to meet someone who lives near me. I'm in
ReplyDeleteChristy, I think your comment got cut off...where are you? ND is very pretty, you should jump in and do it! (summer or early fall is best!)
ReplyDeleteI've been to Fargo, ND, in April none the less. While we were running around in long sleeved t-shirts or even t-shirts during the day... there was still snow on the ground up there. It was wild for this SW MO girl to see :) It was flat yes, but have you driven through Kansas? It's flat too :) Nothing wrong with flat lands!!
ReplyDeleteWhen went to school at the Univ of Georgia, I had the "Life in the Vast Lane" print of ND and ppl thought that was my house. They also thought we had covered wagons still for transportation. The reality is living in rural ND like I do today was NEVER a dream of mine but now it is our dream life. ND is the last frontier of tranquility I tell my out of state friends. Lowest unemployment in the nation w/ a booming economy and a $1 billion state budget surplus. It is a wonderful place to raise a family and I promise I never thought I would be saying all of this about North Dakota as an adult! Technology has made living in rural ND easy for me. I might be 90 miles from Starbucks but the UPS man can deliver just about anything I need or want to my door step.
ReplyDeleteI'll quit my ramble now. :) MOVE BACK TO ND!