Thoughts

I met Bradley in Atlanta and hung out with him once. He is a very interesting person with many layers of which I only witnessed a few. He reminded me A LOT of a old friend I had when I was 15-17 years old. Since our meeting, we have really only been communicating via FB. This past week he has been posting video questions. It's a great way to share thoughts on a subject and see others as well. I have been enjoying them. So Bradley's question today was

"Does your hometown care?"

I thought this to be a really good question. Many of us, being the age group we are, no longer live in the town we grew up. Maybe we moved to attend a college and never went back, moved to live near family, or just wanted to get the heck outta dodge. I am a mixture of two reasons and have two hometowns. One of which, I have nothing to do with ... other than talking to family. I don't even visit that often, I make them come to me. Texas is a weird state.. I try to stay away from it, I might get shot. I do have very fond memories of my old friends there and since FB and Myspace has made this a small world, I have found my closest friends. We don't talk much, but I can see that they all have kids, married and just enjoying life. I am so happy for them. It's nice to see people whom you spent a great amount of time during those years where everything was a new experience, they helped build your character, laugh, cry with and just be a kid exploring life doing well.

Now there is my second hometown: Des Moines Ia,
This is going to take awhile... I will update this later tonight... I just got this idea and my fingers where on fire... but I have a call to take... dang work!

* ok back to my thoughts. finally.

Iowa- (in contrast to Texas) I have put forth WAY more effort to visit and stay in contact with everyone in DSM. So my reply to Bradley was: The question isn't "Does your hometown care" but should be "Do you care about your hometown" REMEMBER: you chose to leave. I think that puts a bit more responsibility on your part to stay connected. Now, if you put forth the effort and get nothing back .. that is another story. There are a few people in Iowa that, for whatever reason, just don't keep in touch, call me back or reply to emails. Those people I still consider friends but not as close as they once were. I figure life has moved them forward and don't take it personal but I do miss them so that makes me a bit sad. Then there are people I guessed would forget about me once I was gone, I have been pleasantly surprise and our friendship has grown because of it. The ones that I hear from less often, it still is a special treat to get that email, text or hear their voice on the phone. All in all, I love my Iowa hometown and hope to move closer one day. I am blessed to say the least to have such great friends and family. Thanks for reading my ramblings ... until next time.