Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913

Proud to Call 'Middle of Nowhere' Home

Three years ago this week I moved to the middle of nowhere. Even before the Washington Post designation and the national attention, I always thought of Glasgow as being Middle of Nowhere, USA.

What I didn’t know after moving here is that, I would call this middle of nowhere home. Where my three-year-old daughter can strike up a conversation with someone she doesn’t know, and the other person will ask how she is doing and engage. Where children look out for each other, and make sure no one is left behind. Where I can walk into the Loaded Toad, and they will know my name, my favorite drink and genueinely care about how I am doing and how work is going. They will even start preparing my drink when they see me drive by and park. Where one neighbor helps with the process of purchasing our first home, my other neighbor brings candy to my daughter just because they saw her outside during their walk and another neighbor willingly mows our lawn because we hadn't gotten around to purchasing a lawn mower.

We spent a little over a month in my native Minnesota earlier this year. That was the longest amount of time we had spent in Minnesota since moving away eight years ago. Besides being stressed and emotional because of the reason why we were there, I was also anxious and nervous when interacting with other people. My heart raced everytime we had to go on the freeway and highway to get somewhere. I was nervous when my daughter tried to start conversations with people we didn’t know and then felt heartbroken when they didn’t even acknowledge her. There was always a sense of anonymity and after a few weeks of being in Minnesota, I longed for the familiarity and personability of home.

The people of Glasgow make this community. Yes, there are obvious drawbacks to living in the middle of nowhere. No specialized medical care, no Caribou Coffee, no Walmart, no Target. But the people and the sense of community the people create makes it all worth it.

 

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