Night Before a New Chapter

It's the night before I leave and start the new chapter in my life. Before I start a new life in California. It's bittersweet as many things in life are. It will be hard leaving everything behind. Family, friends, and a life I've had for 22 years. Before leaving for good, here are a few things I'll miss about this place I've grown to know so well...

• The perfect summer nights.
• Clear skies full of stars.
• Iowa hospitality.
• Being in the middle of the United States.
• Soft green grass.
• June bugs.
• Lightening bugs.
• Scott County Park.
• The Mississippi River.
• Rolling farmland.
• Whitey's Icecream.
• Snow days.
• Raking leaves.
• Front yards and backyards.
• Neighbors.
• The capital building.
• Drake University.
• Des Moines' Farmer's Market.
• The World's Largest Truckstop.
• An Iowa education.
• The goldfinch, wild rose, oak tree, and geode.
• Summer storms.
• Tornadoes.
  
• Going on walks through the neighborhood.
• The small town and small town feel.
• Having people know me most place I go.
• Morel mushrooms.
• Fresh Iowa corn on the cob.
• People making fun of my home state for the things I love about it.
• Everything Iowa had given me.

Thanks Iowa for everything as a grew up through and in you. I'll be back, but for now, the start of a new chapter.

Image courtesy http://media-2.web.britannica.com