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.........

A Kansas Girl

 Photo by: Robert Baker

Life is a whirlwind, but I am busy and quite happy. The only thing missing is this right here! Today I decided to take a few minutes and do a little blog therapy since blogging has been shoved aside of late for silly little things like responsibilities, appointments and the necessities of daily life. Balance is the key and like all keys, I have lost it. I have said a prayer to St. Anthony to help me find it and hopefully like all my other keys, this one will turn up too. If the St. Anthony part threw you, not to worry. It's a Catholic thing. (wink)

So years ago, I was privileged to spend the early part of December in Florida. As I boarded the plane in St. Louis to leave, it was cold, sleeting and they had to de-ice the plane before we could take off. I was dressed in about 10 layers of clothing, trying to stay warm and as we landed in the Sunshine State, I was so thankful for those layers as I began to de-layer myself right there in the airport. Just a few hours earlier it was in the teens with a bitterly cold northern wind blowing and white sleet all around us. Now though, it was in the high 70's, a bit of humidity, sunshine and palm trees all around us. It was then and there that I decided that I could easily be a Florida girl. The only things stopping me from packing my bags and relocating were....money (I was also a poor girl) and more importantly........Fall.

It was glorious to spend seven days in that beautiful state and I loved that it was December and I was wearing shorts. The days were very warm and the nights were comfortable. We even got a thunderstorm very reminiscent of our Kansas spring storms. It was amazing, but very heavy handed with what amounted to only one real season. As much as I love the warm and balmy, 365 days of the basically same stuff might be a bit of overkill. When I finally got back to Kansas and the proper 20 degrees, cold and ice, it somehow just felt right. That is when I realized I was a season girl.

Kansas takes a lot of ribbing for it's flat plains and it's distinction for being non-distinctive to those who have never been here, but say what you will, it is also one of the few states that enjoy true seasons and the individual beauty that each season brings. Most states are pretty unbalanced having only one maybe two actual seasons. However, step into Kansas and regardless of the time of year, you are stepping into a season.

While most of you who know me or read my blogs know that I favor some seasons far more than others and you also know that I am not at all a fan of winter. That being said, I do however appreciate winter for its season and for what it brings to the table in the big scheme of the seasons. Kansas winters can at times rival our northern brothers in cold and ice. Throw in our notorious winds and the wind chills can make frostbite an inevitability if you are outside too long. The only thing we don't share with our northern kin is our snowfall amounts. Usually we don't get more than a foot to two feet in a season.....and that is just fine with me. By the time spring begins to show itself, most of us Kansans are ready to bid a not-so fond farewell to winter.

Spring is one of my two favorite Kansas seasons. From the first signs of new life pushing up through the ground, the warmer days and the subtle change in the air, I shed my winter sulk and begin to enjoy this new season. My favorite part though.....our famous Kansas storms. There is nothing that invigorates me more than the first storm of the season. There is something about the heat, humidity and the electricity (both literally and figuratively) in the air that stirs the blood. Maybe it is the sense of possible danger that looms behind every roll of thunder and every lightening strike or maybe it is just the cleansing you feel as the storm moves on, but whatever it is, Kansas storms are special and they make me long for them the other nine months out of the year.

Kansas summers are full of heat, humidity, wheat fields, blue skies and they are what every Kansas child dreams of in the long cold months of winter. Our temperatures can at times rival our warmer siblings with temps soaring as high as a 110, but it is seldom a dry heat as we have the humidity of the genteel south too. Because of this combination, there are days when 95 degrees can feel more like a 105 and be quite dangerous too. All in all though, this weather makes for long leisurely days by the pool and many endless outdoor evenings looking up at the stars.

However, the best time of the year (only rivaled by spring) and the main reason I will only ever be a Florida girl in my mind, is because of Fall! Fall in Kansas is special to me. There is something so wonderful about that feeling, when you know that the summer heat has finally broken and the days cool to the 60's while the nights cool to a chill. There is true beauty as the  leaves begin to turn and on certain days, the sky is such a deep blue against a sun whose heat becomes less and less that it is cause for amazing spiritual joy. The colors dazzle with their reds, violets, oranges, yellows and browns and your steps crackle as the leaves dried and brittle crunch under your feet. There are football games, bonfires, mittens and coats. Most of all, there are mornings like this.

The rain is drizzling outside my window and their is a chill in the air. Looking out the window, I watch as the world prepares for the changing of the seasons and the trees and plants prepare for a long sleep, I feel happy. It is a warm slipper, pumpkin latte, cozy blanket kind of day. It is a curl up, read a book and blog kind of day. It is a warm house, apple cider, pot of chili kind of day. It is a Kansas Fall kind of day.......and one of the many reasons that I love my home.

Yes, the upcoming winter will be too cold. Snow will drive me to distraction and next summer I will curse the heat, but at the end of the day.....I am a Kansas girl and Kansas is where I think I'll stay.

Happy "Fall" Monday!