Fierce in Seattle: You Can Always Go Home — But Do You Want To?
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a blogumn by Kelli Bielema
Home of the Prophets and my cousin, the hometown hero.
I’ve been called a dreamer, a go-getter, a spaz, impulsive, ambitious. While some of these labels garner validity, I think I’m just mostly impatient. This would explain just one of several reasons why I could never live the rest of my life in my hometown of Prophetstown, Illinois.
After a week-long visit to celebrate my niece’s 6th birthday, I return to Seattle feeling like I’ve been gone for a month. When I’m in P-town, as the locals dub it, life slows considerably. There’s one grocery store, one bank, one Laundromat. There are no stop lights in town, merely stop signs. The highest speed limit is 30, which nary a pick-up truck ever seems to reach cruising down Main Street. I can’t recall this ever bothering me in my youth.
My brother and I were raised by two, uh, ambitious parents in the country. As a kid I always wanted to live in town, population 1700. You could walk to the dime store, rent a video, buy a fountain pop! The possibilities were limitless for excitement in town! Now when I return I feel stymied by the early closure of the Mini-Mart since it won’t be able to fulfill my 1 a.m. hankering for a jo-jo potato. And what if I needed to suddenly drive far, far away, just how will I get my gas tank filled at midnight? This could likely explain the uncanny preparedness of the town folk to always have an acre of rock salt and 6 gallons of milk ready for The Big One…or Sunday.
I don’t ever discount my feelings for my upbringing or diss the town that many of my family members and childhood friends still call home. There’s something about Prophetstown that was idyllic for me, retrospectively. Kinda like a John Cougar Mellencamp song. But somehow pink houses, peace, tranquility, and no Thai food delivery options do not bode well with my current adult sensibilities. And I don’t expect P-town to adapt to me, nor do I presume its denizens will feel right at home in Seattle.
Part of what makes this country great is that there is a place for everyone. And once you’ve found that place, you dig your heels in and call it home. Sweet, sweet, Super Big Gulp Home.
I feel similarly about my hometown. It's nearly 9,000 (a metropolis compared to yours!), but it is quite literally 60 miles from nowhere in North Texas. I hated the isolation in my youth. Now, I romanticize it and enjoy it while I'm there, but I know I could never be happy living there again. Two hours to the airport? One hour to a mall? No sushi? No thanks.
I feel similarly about my hometown. It's nearly 9,000 (a metropolis compared to yours!), but it is quite literally 60 miles from nowhere in North Texas. I hated the isolation in my youth. Now, I romanticize it and enjoy it while I'm there, but I know I could never be happy living there again. Two hours to the airport? One hour to a mall? No sushi? No thanks.
9000 people! That means Wal-Mart Country!
It takes 45 minutes to get to Moline,IL which then takes me to O'Hare which then takes me to Seattle. I could take a direct to Paris in less time… and would enjoy it much more!
City folk….!
9000 people! That means Wal-Mart Country!
It takes 45 minutes to get to Moline,IL which then takes me to O'Hare which then takes me to Seattle. I could take a direct to Paris in less time… and would enjoy it much more!
City folk….!
huh! this is sooooooo different from my upbringing it seems like it's from another planet. and i'm not kidding. great article kel! but kill me if i ever have to live in a small town (or city for that matter). i think cape cod is quiet when i go see my mom, but you can get gas whenever you want …
huh! this is sooooooo different from my upbringing it seems like it's from another planet. and i'm not kidding. great article kel! but kill me if i ever have to live in a small town (or city for that matter). i think cape cod is quiet when i go see my mom, but you can get gas whenever you want …
This is funny, b/c I grew up in St. Louis, and still considered it too small. If you're meant to live in the city, you're meant to live in the city. As it is, small towns like the one you grew up in creep me the fuck out. I just don't feel safe unless I'm in a big city with a big police force and criminals who would have a hard time hiding me in their basement for weeks on end. the only way i would move to a small town or even back to St. Louis is yes, once again, in the event of an apocolypse.
This is funny, b/c I grew up in St. Louis, and still considered it too small. If you're meant to live in the city, you're meant to live in the city. As it is, small towns like the one you grew up in creep me the fuck out. I just don't feel safe unless I'm in a big city with a big police force and criminals who would have a hard time hiding me in their basement for weeks on end. the only way i would move to a small town or even back to St. Louis is yes, once again, in the event of an apocolypse.
I have a rule that we can never live anywhere that doesn't have Chinese food delivery at midnight on a Sunday. I grew up in a very similar town, on the prairie of northeastern Colorado. 900 peeps, no stop lights and the single grocery store which closes at 6:00pm. It feels so small when I visit now. I hated growing up there, but now I know I had a lot more freedom, cause we were in a time-warp of being about 20 years behind the rest of society (and all that conveys.). I could never live there now, due to the Chinese food rule and, like Ernessa, it honestly creeps me out. (even after they caught that guy who kept chicks in his basement for weeks on end.:-) )
I have a rule that we can never live anywhere that doesn't have Chinese food delivery at midnight on a Sunday. I grew up in a very similar town, on the prairie of northeastern Colorado. 900 peeps, no stop lights and the single grocery store which closes at 6:00pm. It feels so small when I visit now. I hated growing up there, but now I know I had a lot more freedom, cause we were in a time-warp of being about 20 years behind the rest of society (and all that conveys.). I could never live there now, due to the Chinese food rule and, like Ernessa, it honestly creeps me out. (even after they caught that guy who kept chicks in his basement for weeks on end.:-) )