I Don't Need a "Bucket List"....I've Got Kansas

Yesterday morning it was in the 30's here and very foggy. I took a friend to the airport who was flying out to go to San Diego for a week. She proceeded to tell me that after looking at the forecast, the weather was going to be in the 60's while she was there. Yes, there would be rain....but THE 60's! 

On the way back from the airport, I was talking to another friend. She lives in Texas and she said the weather in the next week or so predicted temperatures in the 70's. THE 70's! We, meanwhile, are expecting snow and cold. Oh well, it is winter after all.

This same Texas friend and I were talking about her travels. Her husbands company requires him to do a lot of traveling and because of this, she gets to tag along from time to time. When I say traveling, I actually mean traveling. He goes to places like Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and domestic places such as St. Louis, Chicago and Denver too. My friend has gotten to be his plus one for some of these trips and I guess I have lived vicariously through her.

After I hung up with her, I tried hard to imagine what it must be like to get to take off and visit these places.....the planning, the packing and the final excitement of getting to board your flight to a new destination full of experiences that you may never get again. Travel I guess is why so many people have "bucket lists." They want to see and experience places that they have only seen on TV or read about in books. Being the history lover that I am, I totally get it, however, I have never been much into "bucket lists." This is partly because my life does not allow me to pick up and take long journey's away from home, nor does it afford me the luxury of the price of an international plane ticket.  Even if it did though, I am not sure I would be too excited about the whole leaving thing.

I was born in Denver, CO. We lived there until I was two and then we left the mountains behind for the flat plains of Kansas. Even though I am Colorado born, I have no attachment to it and I have always considered myself a Kansas girl. I have visited Colorado several times in my life and it truly is beautiful, but I have no deep desire to wake up to mountains everyday, to live where three foot of snow is not uncommon in the winter and where I might have to travel up winding roads towards the sky to get some place. I hate heights and frankly, crossing the Kansas/Colorado boarder gives me huge anxiety. Go ahead you Colorado lovers....boo me. The fact is that I may have been born in the Centennial state, but my heart will always be in Kansas.

As I finished my drive home yesterday, I watched the passing scenery. It is winter in Kansas and some may just see cold, dreary and nothing special outside, but I saw fog frozen to beautiful brown fields. Beneath that surface I know is wheat, just waiting for the spring to come and it's tiny sprouts to emerge up through the ground. There was also something very peaceful about the fog yesterday as it became just a light mist here and there and then dense and beautiful lying in spots and filling up the atmosphere. And even as much as I hate cold and winter, we are so blessed here in Kansas to be one of the few states that in most years, has four very distinct seasons. No matter how cold it gets (and it can get cold) we always know that spring is just around the corner and life will come back to Kansas in full glory.

I love spring for it's amazing storms and electric light shows that play across the sky. I love the electricity in the air when storms build and make their way towards us. Sometimes it is like watching both the fury and the glory of God at the very same time.

In the winter I long for the summer months where the temperatures can climb into the 100's and the humidity can make you feel like you are in the deep south. Everything is green and the fields turn golden as the wheat prepares for harvest. I love driving through the rural areas and seeing cattle and horses and farm houses dotted across the landscape, all in a carpet of green splendor. It gives us long days by the pool and warm evenings sitting outside and listening to the frogs, the coyotes beyond the train tracks and the breeze dancing playfully within the wind chimes.

Perhaps though, my favorite time of year is after several weeks of the cicada's sounding their call that fall is on it's way....its actual arrival. I love the cooler mornings and the crispness in the air and seeing the tree's begin to change color and the beautiful and bright array of yellows, reds, browns and even purples literally rejuvenates me and makes me excited for things to come. I love jackets and high school football as the world cools down and makes way for winter once again.

I see beauty and feel a sense of "home" every time I drive through the Flint Hills, smell a bbq or find myself on a dirt road out in the country. I love the amazing Kansas sunrises and I have been brought to tears over her sunsets.

Kansas is the place that I have grown up, lived, loved, lost, raised my children and am now watching my grand kids grow up. It is powerful and quiet, magnificent and awe inspiring. There is a sense of peace for me here and true sense of belonging. Kansas is my home.

So yeah, I could travel the country and even the world. I am sure it would be wonderful, but at the end of the day, I know I would long for the prairie and the wheat fields of Kansas. Perhaps this is why I don't do "bucket lists". I don't need one. I already have mine and it is full of all the things I love the most. I am home!

Until next time.........