Something great about Home

This past week I was visiting my family in Richmond, Missouri, a small town just east of Kansas City, Missouri. My mother and her parents and their parents were all born and raised in Ray County, of which Richmond is the county seat. I also had the opportunity to drive through Kansas City itself. I was born and raised there as was my father and his parents.

There is something so great about home. I have not lived in Kansas City since 2003, yet it will always be my home. I never have to look at a map while I'm there. My father took care of that when I was learning to drive...even earlier than that. Every time we went anywhere he would insist that I tell him not only the streets and highways we were on, but also the direction we were heading. Even after I left KC my friends would call and ask me how to get somewhere.

All of my firsts happened in Kansas City. First steps, baseball game, kiss, prom, job. I honestly don't remember my first kiss, but I do remember my first job. I worked in the Small Mall at Antioch Center, a shopping mall in Kansas City North. The small mall was a tiny building inside the shopping center where children could go and buy gifts for their families at Christmas. The gifts were things like erasers and small plastic toys, but the kids loved it. I hated it as I didn't like children, and I was soon moved to gift wrapping. I just read that Antioch Mall was set for demolition...another of my childhood memories gone.

If nothing else I am as loyal as a cocker spaniel. Especially when it comes to my home. We may not have won a sports championship since 1985, perhaps our city is blighted by well, blight, and perhaps we'll always be a town where folks from the east thinks cows still roam our streets. But we have the best damn bar-b-cue in the country, a beautiful skyline and really friendly people. Taking a drive through town always makes me misty eyed. It's my home and I wouldn't have it any other way...other than to still love there.