At fifteen years of age, there was one thing of which I was certain. I would never live in Kansas. (Or Missouri, for that matter.)
I vividly remember washing my hands in a McDonald's bathroom somewhere off of I-70 in the middle of Kansas. As I looked in the mirror, I consoled myself with the thought that I would never have to actually reside in Kansas. All I had to do was get through the next few boring hours driving to Colorado and I would be free of it forever. In fact, I hadn't been much more impressed with Missouri.
Forever, it turns out, is a long time.
Moving to Colorado from Ohio at fifteen was my first big move. The next came when I married my husband. We moved (of course) to Kansas.
We bought our first house in Overland Park. We lived just east of Metcalf on 78th Street. Our neighbors were wonderful. At the time I taught middle school in Kansas City, Kansas. In the midst of our early years of marriage, something happened. I actually began to like Kansas City. There were no mountains, but there certainly was plenty to do.
Some of my favorite memories of those years include running many road races. My favorite was probably the Hospitall Hill Half Marathon. I loved running on roads I wouldn't have otherwise been able to run on due to variety of reasons including the traffic.
Date nights on the Plaza and in downtown Prairie Village are also highlights of my first three years in the metro area. Yet, truth be told, one of my favorite places came to be the Borders at 91st and Metcalf. It may not be a local place, but the faces at the coffee shop were familiar and my husband and I spent many nights looking at books and talking the hours away.
Slowly but surely, I became certain that I never wanted to leave Kansas City. I most certainly didn't want to leave it to move further south. That was before our lives changed forever.
Any parent would likely tell you that becoming a parent forever changes her life. Well, nearly three years into our lives in Kansas City, we learned we were expecting our first child. Not long after we made the announcement that we were expecting, my husband got the opportunity to transfer to Arkansas. Suddenly the desire to be home with my child overrode my desire to never live in the South.
We spent three wonderful years living in Arkansas. Yet, when the time came to move, I was thrilled to move back to the Kansas City Area. By this time, were were expecting our third child. We decided that this was certainly a great place to raise a family and we've never looked back.
The last two years have been full of adventures that we never would have experienced if we hadn't returned to this city. Trips to Wonderscope and Deanna Rose have become family favorites. Recently, we visited Paradise Park and my older children still talk about it. They also like watching mommy pretend to be scared of the snakes that reside in the Ernie Miller Nature Center.
Some things have stuck, of course. I still like my tea a bit sweet and I love overhearing someone who has a southern accent talk. In fact, just the other day I used “y'all” for the first time. It made me laugh to think that I was first using that word two years after we'd moved from the Arkansas.
But then I smiled. After all, there is no place I'd rather say “y'all.” I hope www.kcparent.com becomes something that helps you feel the same way.