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Home Again
May 21st, 2010 by Morgan Andenas
(Note: It’s Friday, which means this post is a part of our “I Feel Fridays” project. Our goal is to share stories from the past week that generated an emotional response. We encourage readers to respond to the post or to share something from their lives in the past week. To learn more about “I Feel Fridays,” check out this post- and then tell us what you’re feeling.)
I came home from college for the summer this week, and nearly everyone I met in my hometown made me feel welcomed back into the community. That’s something I haven’t felt in a while.
I grew up on a family farm in Howard, SD. I then decided to travel 788 miles down Interstate-90 to attend the School of Architecture at Montana State University – Bozeman. I knew I would miss my family and friends, but I was ready to make the change. What I didn’t think I would miss as much as I do is the community.
Howard is pretty small, and I was ready for bigger things – a bigger town, a bigger school and a sense of “bigger” that would come from me moving there. I didn’t think I was better than my friends who stayed, but I thought I was on a new adventure to try completely new things. While this is true, I started to miss the things I once took for granted.
For instance, the meat that showed up on my dining hall plate was not from our cows or our neighbors pigs. I couldn’t find any garden fresh kohlrabi in the salad department. Worst of all, it definitely wasn’t cooked by Mom.
I would drive down to Target and the cashier didn’t ask me about my Grandpa, only if I wanted my receipt with me or in the bag. My floormates laughed at my hometown newspaper saying, “It’s for the whole county, only comes once a week, and the main story is about a cow?!” I started to defend my little paper by explaining it was Fair week, and the steer won Best in Show for a local 4-H kid. They didn’t think it was a big deal.
I truly realized how much I missed the community my first night home from college during Winter Break when I walked into the Cabaret Steakhouse in Carthage, SD with my parents. As we found a table, friends and neighbors all smiled at me and asked how it felt to be done with my first semester in Montana. I was caught off guard because these people cared enough to stop eating, talk to me, and remember were I was going to school and what subject I was studying.
That’s when it hit me: Bozeman may be a very friendly town, but it doesn’t even compare to Miner County. When I go back to school, only my close friends and professors will welcome me with a smile and genuinely care how my summer went. When I walk into the restaurants, no one will ask how it’s going in Howard or say how nice it is to have me back in town.
I think a previous post about Tom Bodett’s thoughts on a small town embody why I love Miner County. The small-town community is hard to explain, but now that I have gone away the pull for me to come back is getting stronger.
I’ve now finished my third year at MSU and I’m no longer caught off guard by people saying, “It’s so good to see you! How long are you home for this time?” I happily answer, “The whole summer, and I’m really glad to be home.”
Photo: Miner County residents do their best in a pie eating contest to celebrate Straw Bale Days in Carthage, SD, uploaded to Flickr by the Rural Learning Center
Tags: I feel Friday, miner county sd, returning, small town
Posted in Gen Y, Quality of Life, Rural, Rural Life | Comments (
4 )
May 23rd, 2010 at 7:47 pm
Excellent post, Morgan. It must make the people of the Howard community proud that you feel like this about them and the community.
May 24th, 2010 at 8:52 am
Thank you Loren. I hope small communities realized their ability to reach young people does not stop when those students graduate from high school or move to another community. A community can make a huge impact by just taking a few seconds out of their busy day to stop and say hello to those of us returning, and those that have never left.
May 26th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
An interesting reality check for Bozeman. I lived a couple blocks off-campus a few years ago, and was impressed by how friendly the community is–big city amenities in a small town setting.
I admit I discounted the old-timers’ “You should have seen it back when…” . Compared to Denver or even Fargo, Bozeman is still small town America. Tho if we consider, say, Brookings, then the home of Montana’s land grant U may be getting a bit big for it’s britches even before Target came to town.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:26 pm
I love Bozeman (except for the weather) and have yet to meet an unfriendly person, but the town is too large for everyone in the community to know everyone else. This might be different if I lived in the long-term residential areas and had a family with children in school, but even on a campus of 12,000 sometimes it’s hard to find a familiar face.
And I too have heard, “Back when I moved to town N 19th Ave was just a dirt road …” Now it’s a major access road with turning lanes, and covered in strip malls.