like a flower...

http://www.kutc.ku.edu/~kutc/cgi-bin/images/omaha%20skyline.jpg


i think i need sun to grow. the sun hasn't shone in days... weeks... it's cold and grey and foggy and snowy and miserable.

and it tends to put people in a cranky mood. in a funk. i am no exception.

there is no end in sight to this terrible winter in the midwest. and i find myself wishing we were somewhere, anywhere else.

but in actuality, it's not the winter that makes me think that.

i live in omaha. nebraska. corn and cornhuskers and the college world series and warren buffet. i own a home in omaha. we have made our lives here pretty permanent. i never thought i would end up permanently in omaha. but here we are. we don't have palm trees or even sunshine most days. we don't have beautiful glassy lakes, or mile high mountain peaks. we don't have beaches, or rodeo drive. we don't have professional sports teams. we don't have a macy's.

our city is separated into 4 parts. north omaha, south omaha, midtown, west omaha. each part has its own identity, and its own people. i have never lived anywhere, or heard of anywhere that is separated in quite the same way as omaha.

its freezing and grey and wet all winter. its in tornado alley. its 90 and hot and humid and misty all summer. there is corn, lots and lots of corn. there are cows and feed lots. there is no happening downtown. there are few tall buildings.

but it is our home. it is our home, and while during the cold grey winter months, and the hot sticky summer months, i dream of being elsewhere. this is our home. i chose this city. i was going to move here all by myself when i was 18. but my family followed me, they moved close by. i met matthew here. i fell in love here. there are places all around town that remind me of matthew and new love. i made friends here. friends that will last a lifetime. we have one of the top zoos in the country. we have the college world series, and husker football. we have state parks, and some man made lakes that aren't half bad.

our unemployment rate is 4.7% i don't know if you have been paying attention but that is far far less than the national average. our housing market never exploded, therefore it never fell. omaha is virtually recession proof. if we lived in any other city, we wouldn't have been able to buy a house at this point in our lives. if we lived in any other city, we would have to get second jobs to help pay off our student loan debt.

omaha is hick, and small town, and cold, and hot, and not quite what i dreamed. but it is home. it is love, and friendship, and simplicity. it is a place to raise a family. it is security, and peace. it is growing and changing, and staying the same, it isn't losing it's identity. it is home.

i choose matthew, i choose simplicity, i choose security. i choose omaha.



Nebraska, 'Welcome to Omaha' Sign across from the Union Station, Omaha, November, 1938 Photographic Print



Start tearing the old man down
Run past the heather and down to the old road
Start turning the grain into the ground Roll a new leaf over
In the middle of the night, there's an old man treading around in the gathered rain
Well mister, if you're going to walk on water
Could you drop a line my way?

Omaha Somewhere in middle America
Get right to the heart of matters
It's the heart that matters more
I think you better turn your ticket in
And get your money back at the door

Start threading a needle
Brush past the shuttle that slides through the cold room
Start turning the wool across the wire Roll a new life over
In the middle of the night, there's an old man threading his toes through a bucket of rain
Hey mister, you don't want to walk on water
you're only going to walk all over me

Omaha Somewhere in middle America
Get right to the heart of the matters
It's the heart that matters more
I think you better turn your ticket in
And get your money back at the door

Start running the banner down
Drop past the color come up through the summer rain
Start turning the girl into the ground Roll a new love over
In the middle of the day, there's a young man rolling around in the earth and rain
Hey Mister, if you're going to walk on water
You know you're only going to walk all over me.

Omaha Somewhere in middle America
Get right to the heart of matters
It's the heart that matters more
I think you better turn your ticket in
And get your money back at the door

Omaha
Counting Crows

Comments

  1. Hey Minna, way to turn that gray into sunshine:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1. i am from omaha and i am not a hick

    2. actually there is lots of stuff to do downtown

    ReplyDelete
  3. even if you've learned to love it, we can still hope to move someday...

    ReplyDelete

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