Today is the day.  It appears the day has finally arrived that Chris and I will actually be leaving Iowa.  Now I am never one to say something is forever but I am pretty sure that our life will not bring us back to Iowa to live.

Everyone has first impressions when they move to a new place.  My first impression was made the very  first time I flew into Minneapolis to visit Chris after he took a job in Mason City years ago.  As I walked outside the airport terminal to go to his car I looked up at him and said  “Holy cow—it’s cold.  My boogers are frozen.”  And that was my first introduction to the area because once I got to Mason City it was colder and definitely not warmer.

I would say I had a love hate relationship with Iowa for quite awhile. Sad but true.  Let’s face it – I was missing my perfect for me job at Epworth UMC and my friends of over 9 years.  It was a move necessitated by a job for the husband and I will be forever grateful for employment but if I am honest it took me until the past couple of years to really feel like Iowa was home.

They joke about Iowa being a “fly over” state and that was certainly the case for most of our family and friends.  My best friend from North Carolina came to visit me twice, my sister came once and my nephew and his girlfriend made a brief stop over for a few hours when they were driving north.  That was pretty much the extent of our company other than a few other “local” types who we housed now and again.  All this when we had the biggest house we have ever had in our married lives.  It seemed kind of silly.

But the time has come to say goodbye. My prolonged #FarewellTour2015 might have gotten a bit old for some people but I was trying to cram a lot into the last month or so.  It’s difficult to say goodbye once friendships are made and roots have been put down. But it is time.  Chris and I really truly love each other and the beauty of this move is that we will be together again physically more than we were the past year and a half.  This is to be our last planned move (other than maybe a winter home) until as Chris so delicately puts it “They move me out in a box”.   We are going to a beautiful spot where we are going to enjoy the beauty of God’s world in our own backyard and beyond.  It is going to be a different place but we will still be the same people.

So thank you, Iowa, for showing me what you had to offer.

Thank you for your delightful sweet corn.

Thank you for your lovely breezy summer days.

Thank you for your flat lands where I could see for miles.

Thank you for your pork—the best I have eaten is right here.

Thank you for your small towns and small town festivals that delight and entertain.

Thank you for your history.

Thank you for being the place of everything political.  (I really don’t mean thank you on this one. )

Thank you for allowing me to experience a variety of things while living within your boundaries.

Thank you for helping me connect with some wonderful friends I will have forever.

And finally – thank you for allowing me to survive your frigid and snowbound winters.  Those, if I am honest, will not be missed.