Wednesday, October 14, 2009

"Where are you from?"


[Sorry to belabor the Iowa thing, guys, but it weighs heavy on my mind like a carpet stain. This is just my way of Scotch Guarding it out of my brain, so to speak.. I.e., I know, I know.]


My great-great grandfather, Edward, was too young to fight in the Civil War. His older brother, James, wasn't. After the war, the 2 of them set out for Iowa to homestead. (It's my understanding that James was a real Lt. John Dunbar type.)


So Edward eventually settled in North Central Iowa, in what's now called German Valley.


I was born in Mt. Clemens, Michigan. For the first 5 years of my life, we lived in Sterling Heights, a nice suburb of Detroit at the time.


Then dad was transferred to Findlay, Ohio, in the North West Central part of the state.


About 3 years later, we moved to Mahomet, Illinois. Dad worked in Champaign-Urbana.


Then he was transferred, about 3 years later, to Columbus, Ohio, and we moved to a suburban town called Pickerington. We lived there for nearly 6 years, or so.


Then mom and dad and I (everyone else was gone and married) moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, at the very beginning of my junior year of high school. That was rough.


About 2 years later he was transferred to Springfield, Ohio, and we moved to some acreage in New Carlisle, Ohio. That Fall, I was off to New York City.


I moved back to New Carlisle in 1990. Went to another college, graduated, and moved to Nashville, Tennessee to attend graduate school.


That lasted about 15 minutes, and it was back to New Carlisle. I worked at a nursery farm for awhile, moved over to my brother's farm for a bit. I was aimless and getting kind of long in the tooth, so I moved to Colorado. Boulder, Estes Park, and finally Winter Park. I was there for 2 and 1/2 seasons. Met the-one-that-got-away, and then, after one more visit to New Carlisle, on Memorial Day Weekend we moved to Birmingham, Alabama. That was 1997.


So when people ask me, "Where are you from?", I think I'm just going to say, "Iowa."


Yeah, I like the sound of that. I say it proudly, with a good deal of charm and wit.

16 comments:

Michael said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Keifus said...

That's a lot of migration. I suppose Iowa works out to about the geographical average too.

Cindy said...

I can see why it pulls you so.

I was born in St. Augustine, to a long line of Menorcans who settled there in the 1500's and are still there. We got all of three hours west, and have remained planted there ever since.

I yearn for movement and have wanted to live in Maine, Wisconsin, Oregon and New York City. As well as Canada and England and Greece.

It's an interesting opposition here. The mind is a funny thing. And roots are amazing how they take hold no matter what.

bright said...

Happy Birthday. Hope it's a good one.

Michael said...

Sorry for the delete Swit, but it occurred to me last night that a: that was way TMI and b: someone could create a whole new schmutzie with all that, and maybe even open a credit card account or buy a house or something.

Guess I was just trying to say that for all that moving around, for 50 yrs I've lived within 30 miles of the hospital where I was born.

Estes Park is in my top 5 places on earth dude, and Berthoud Pass is a must drive.

twif said...

given the whole adopted child thing, i don't have a sense of deep roots. still, i'm from new england (CT, in particular). moved away for a bit, and will do so again, but yeah. this is where i'm from.

David Marlow said...

Wait. That's today? Oh, right. Thanks for remembering. It means a lot.

Not a particularly nice day. Dreary, rainy. Appropriate.

bright said...

Like that here as well. Tis the season.

Michael said...

Well happy birthday Switters, and many more.

Rainy and 43deg in Chicago. Blecchh.

Keifus said...

Hey, they're calling for snow up here!

Keifus said...

Oh, and the birthday card, you see, I was gonna...and, well...I, um...yeah.

LentenStuffe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cindy said...

Hope your birthday ended up being more happy than the weather.

At 4:00 am when we were expriencing a major lightning and thunder event I woke up and thought maybe this was yours and you sent it east.

We got it. Thanks!

twif said...

hey happy post-birthday.

bright said...

also, my sister is single again.

Cindy said...

Hey, I just wanted you to know I was missing you. Hope everything is okay over there your way.

My garden is getting lush.