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Today finds me with a sinus infection….I went to the doctor like a big girl.

I do enjoy traveling….but I really like coming home. I whine about my town….but really….I am happy to come back every time.

It’s nice to be missed and hear people say they missed you. To get a hug from your friends. To hear people yell your name….its nice to be where you belong. At band practice the other night we got that and I never realized how much I needed it. Everyone always wants to hear their name and how happy someone is to see you. That you matter….that there was a void in your absence….that the job was done but it wasn’t done the same as you do it. It made me realize that I needed to make sure that when I see someone I’ve missed that I share the same enthusiasm that was shared with me….because we all need to feel that we matter.

The Midwest to me is home…I like big green open fields. I like barns and the smell of hay. I like tractors and watching the sun set. I like watching the corn grow and beans and I like the farmers that come into my store and tell me stories about the cows they have and how they saved a calf after it accidentally got kicked. I like listening to people tell me about their kids who moved to the big city and what they are doing. I like camping and fishing and talking to people about how to fish better. I like how people here (for the most part) look out for one another. I like how I can tell my neighbor I’m gonna be gone and he watches it better than any private investigator ever would…that is living in the Midwest.

I am happy to be living in a time where my KC Chiefs are in the SuperBowl for the fourth time in my lifetime….and that I’ve seen them win twice…

I’m grateful that I am from a part of the country where we work hard and then work harder…that we help ourselves and each other. I’m glad to know people who know how to get things done…

Tomorrow, I get to go and do something that brings me great joy. I haven’t been able to clown since October and the first time out after several long months always feels daunting….but as soon as that red nose goes on…I’m good…

Laughter has always been a high for me….in school I was good at two things….making people laugh, and playing piano….

Clowning is something I’ve tried to explain…but I just cannot.

To look ridiculous and be brave enough to do so takes courage…my big red nose helps me to be brave…because when I put it on…I’m taken back to childhood…where I can dance and sing without a care….where life hasn’t been hard yet…and what makes a great day is finding a new bug or Mom making chocolate cake for dessert….or sometimes the fancy glass cups with pudding and whip cream….just because.

Before life became about bills and taxes and insurance and healthcare and groceries and gas….when life became “diary worthy” because your parents went to Pizza Hit and we got the Priazzo (I totally realize I’m dating myself)

I could tell you stories forever how people with bald heads because of chemo have told me stories how they are so glad I’m there because for a moment they can forget the pain of this world…how I’ve watched those with dementia be brought to a world of clarity when we sing a song and play a game that they remember how to do…how they light up when I give them a clown nose….how kids forget about all the ugliness of this world and can just be a kid…and laugh and play either me…because there is this ridiculous character who makes them forget….

So…yes, I love to travel….and explore like we did this past week….where I could look at gems and be rejuvenated in my business. How my Graduate Gemologist husband can teach me…and how much fun we had sharing it with our daughter….

I enjoyed all the places we went and what we saw and cultures we learned about…and food we ate….

All these experiences make me a better person. Being able to understand where a person is coming from really changes your understanding of the world around you which is of great importance.

Sometimes in order to be happy where you are and with your life you must explore the world…to find out where you truly belong….

For me….it will always be where the grass is green….