Uniquely Wichita

 Not long after we moved to Wichita almost 4 years ago, I began the following Facebook Note:

Uniquely Wichita.......(for the most part)

by Jess Heimer on Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 8:15am ·

I have been thinking lately of collecting thoughts about the things i encounter living in wichita that i might never have experienced elsewhere. The good, the bad, the ugly and the ?????.......

1. an entire population that pronounces words differently and is hell bent that they are right and the whole rest of the world is saying it wrong. El Dorado (the a is soft people) Arkansas is not are kansas and don't get me started on Greenwich.

2. lightning bugs! I love 'em. ( i know they are lots of places, but i never lived with them in the mountain west.)

3. running past a gaggle of girl runners at 6 am (most in full make-up) all heavily perfumed, and wearing nearly matching running attire. This one really makes me miss boulder and yes, I realize this one is probably also true in Dallas.

4. we have more international friends here than I dreamed. We are often the minority being from the US. Watching them co-exist among born and bred flatlanders can be quite entertaining.

5. Luciano is right that the sunsets on the edge of town are very tuscan-like, and they last much longer without 14000 foot peaks in the way.

to be continued

 Differences and idiosyncrasies of living in the Midwest continued to occur to me as we lived there and I often thought I should revisit and update my "note."  Now having 4+ months to look back on our time in Wichita, I can appreciate a lot about it.  Warning!!! Digression approaching...........

Since meeting Ryan more than seven years ago (wow!), most parts of our lives have involved planning for or hoping for a next step, new job, or next big thing......

Meet

Fall in love

Build house

Hope for Ring (one of us)

Get ring....Plan wedding

Quit job wedding was planned around

Get new job far away from house and try to sell house

Lose new job 4.5 months after marriage 

(yep, kinda felt like I looked about to jump out of a plane)

Move to new state for new job

Wait, wait, wait for Europe trip to start building a family

Try, try and try some more for 2 to become 3

Take break from family building and dig into remodeling

SURPRISE!!

live

try to move home

Yep, after some time to reflect, the best part about Wichita beyond some of the lifelong friendships we formed, was that is was where we finally just lived.  For the first year of Ben's life, nothing else mattered.  It was just the 5 (pups too) of us living.  Yes the remodeling loomed but little else really mattered than just being.......our little happy family.  

Life is all about what's next, and next steps, and progress, and for Ryan and I, a fair amount of general productivity.  All of that is natural, healthy and good.  I am ever so thankful though for what became Uniquely Wichita for me, and for the fondness with which it will allow me to look back on our time there.

As our family sits at yet another crossroads, waiting to really be home at home in Colorado, my Crazy Aunt Mary shared some words that SO embody the journey of life for me........

 

It's SO worth it :)