Home for the Holidays

     Now that the holidays are over, like many other students, I am headed back to college with a few more pounds and a few more miles on my car. For a lot of farm kids, living in town on a college campus is a big change and takes some adjusting. I have lived on campus for 3 and 1/2 years now, so I think it is safe to say I have adjusted to the lifestyle. From time to time, however, the hustle and bustle of the city starts to drive me insane and I need to go back home to the farm for a weekend to gather my sanity. If you have ever lived on a farm, I'm sure you know what I am talking about.
     For the past month back home, I didn't hear one siren or college party. It was a month filled with bon fires, family, and playing with my dog in the snow. If nothing else, it was just plain refreshing to be able to see for miles without any tall buildings blocking my view. There is something so special about land that has yet to be touched by urbanization, and until you leave the farm and live in town for a while, it is hard to appreciate the wide-open space for how truly rare it seems to be today. I feel so lucky to have grown up on my family's farm. It is an experience that many of my friends never had, which makes it even more special to me.
     When I get to go home for semester breaks, I get to go back to the place where I grew up and had so much opportunity as a kid. We learned how to work hard and play harder. Summers were filled with bonfires and diving off the rope swing into the pond, and winters were filled with making sled hills and pulling each other on sleds behind the 4-wheeler. Not every kid gets to grow up the way I did, and going to college and meeting all sorts of different people has given me a new appreciation for my childhood growing up on a farm.
     I only have one more semester of college left, after which I hope to be able to have my own farm someday so that everyday I can come home to a farm and all that living on a farm has to offer. Don't get me wrong, I love my college and would not change the last 4 years for anything... but getting back to the farm could not come fast enough!!