Really COLD beer, helicopters, fires, and American Flags

Shortly after I was born, my father was transferred to the USDA office in DeWitt, and my family (which consisted of my father, mother and me) moved to what is my hometown. Growing up in DeWitt was probably very similar to growing up in any small town in Iowa. This weekend Charlie and I visited my parent in DeWitt and it got me thinking about putting down roots. How does one end up in the cities they plant roots in? What makes someone decided to stay in that city?

Bruce, my father, is from New Jersey (and lived in a HUGE city growing up) and Kristi, my mother, is from Canby, Minnesota, which is even smaller than DeWitt.  They were obviously brought to DeWitt by my father’s employer… but what has kept them here for over 20 years? And what makes me NEVER want to go back? Is Johnston were Dave and I want to put our roots down? Yes, I love living in Iowa, yes I love Johnston, but is it the best place to raise a family? My initial thought is…. yes. But I also probably won’t try out different places, so I don’t 100% know for sure. That being said… I am happy where we are at now, and I am going to go with that. If things change years down the road, I will go with the flow.

Going back to my NEVER wanting to live in DeWitt again. First and fore most, the small town feel is nice for a day or two, then… it becomes a crazed level of knowing everyone’s business. My mom is the worst, some examples….

1. There was a fire in town this last weekend. Bruce, Charlie and I were on our way back to town when we received the text from my mom: “huge fire in town, the hotel across from Pizza Hut”. As we pulled off our exit we saw a fire truck from another town on their way in, so naturally we followed it (I am pretty sure that this is illegal, and I apologize to anyone who this act upsets), but we were curious. This in and of it self is a small town thing. I would NEVER even think to follow a fire truck in Des Moines, crap happens all the time.  So we followed the truck and found the fire, we couldn’t see much and didn’t want to get in the way but we did learn 2 things… it was NOT a huge fire as my mom stated and it was NOWHERE near the Pizza Hut. Prime example for how rumors are started in small towns.
2. Mom and I were going to get some beer. From my parents house there are 2 gas stations within 3 minutes and a grocery store within 3 ½ minutes. But we don’t go there… no, we have to go to the gas station that is “all the way on the other side of town” as my mom puts it, because it has the coldest beer. I obviously don’t care at all because “all the way on the other side of town” is 5 minutes away. I can’t get anywhere in 5 minutes in Des Moines. As we were pulling out of the gas station after we got our really cold beer, mom noticed the sign in the window. “Help Wanted.” And the first thing out of her mouth is…. “ohhhh, I wonder who lost their job.” Who wonders that? I bet she was going through the list of people who work there in her head saying, “Sally…no, Jim…no, Tony…well maybe, Steve… no, Jen… yes, oh yes it has to be her!”
3. On this very same trip we asked the gas station attendant (who obviously was not the poor soul who lost their job) informed us that flags were at half staff because an Iowa soldier was killed overseas. On the way home my mother looked at EVERY flag on the way to make sure they were all at half staff. As we passed by each one she would say, “Good, the bank’s is down. Good, the fire station’s is down” and so on and so on. Until we got to Mc Donald’s who must not have gotten the memo. The first thing she says is, “oh, well I will have to call them when we get home to make sure they put their flag down.” Of course she needs to call the Mc Donald’s because it is, as she put it, “her duty.” Yes my mother is a good American, but that would only happen in a small town.
4. The last example happened on this very same trip to get the really cold beer as we checked the town flags to ensure they were at half staff. The hospital in town has a helicopter pad, and there was a helicopter landed. And of course my mother says, “oh no, that’s not good when the helicopter is here… I wonder what’s going on.”

It was exhausting… I like living in Johnston, not worrying about everyone else’s jazz. I am exhausted now just talking about all those examples of small town living, I can’t continue on with my other reasons for not living in DeWitt.

That being said, I loved growing up in DeWitt, I love coming home to VISIT, and I have met a TON of great people from DeWitt and many who still live there. It’s a great small town, just a wee bit too small for me!