Happy 146th Birthday!

In honor of the 146th year of statehood for Kansas, I thought I’d write a little about what being a Kansan means to me. Like many kids who were born and raised in this state, I once had dreams of fleeing. Being from Dodge City made the whole “get out of Dodge” statement particularly meaningful for me. At one point I thought going to college in a far away place would be my great escape. When the financial realities of attending a school out of state hit me, I settled for Pittsburg (the other corner of the state) for a year and then I moved on to Lawrence for my undergraduate degree.

Perhaps I first began to doubt my need to escape Kansas when I decided to take a Kansas boy with me. Hubby and I more or less threw a dart at a map (or at least at a few well-researched locations) and settled on Houston, Texas for our first “home away.” Consider going from a state with a total population of approximately 2.5 million to a metro area with a population of more than 5 million. I don’t know that I would have survived the culture shock without a fellow Kansan by my side.

One of the marvelous things about Houston, of course, was that nearly everyone you met was from someplace else. For sheer entertainment, we would occasionally dress ourselves in Kansas apparel and go wander the great Galleria mall. In no time at all we’d find ourselves stopped by fellow Kansans, or people with relatives in Kansas, or people who at least followed Jayhawk basketball with the same enthusiasm we did. It was a crazy kind of comfort, for me, being so far from home and being able to continually find people who were “from home” too.

We were just short of five years living in Houston. The draw to return to Kansas was strong. Once I returned, I was pretty sure I’d never want to leave again. We’ve been from one corner of the state to another. The older I get, the more I realize that home, really, is more a state of mind than a place. But there is still something very comfortable about living among Kansans. There’s a sense that operating independently here is okay; neighbors are friendly without the intrusive qualities that seem prevalent in more urban areas.

I love the landscape; rolling hills on this side of the state, wide-open plains on the other. Traveling across Kansas gives you the feeling of openness and freedom. There are quirks of personality along the way. I don’t mind so much that state as a whole tends to have a conservative reputation, likely highly influenced by the tendency for displaying these sentiments on billboard signs along our major highways.

In the years I was gone from Kansas, I learned to appreciate the fact that Kansas has four distinct seasons. I look forward to the change of colors and temperatures, acutely aware now of how the seasons affect the productiveness and rhythms of my days. I embrace those changes now, as I think all Kansans must… in spite of our reputation for sameness and reluctance to move forward.

Flyover People provides this link, Ode to Kansas, a view from a non-Kansan who says it much better than I am capable this early hour of the morning.

As well, read Cheryl’s essay, On Being a Kansan.