only the strong survive

New Jersey is awesome. This is true for a plethora of reasons, a few of which I actually outlined in a short paper once about proper English usage rules ("The word 'armpit' should never be used to modify the words 'New Jersey.'"). But aside from the fact that New Jersey has the highest percentage of millionaire households (what does that even mean?) it is rich in other ways. 

Like diversity. The LDS population in the state is less than 1%, (unlike states like Utah, Idaho, Arizona,Oregon or even California) but that has its advantages. Like, you know how people talk about the church as being like their family? In New Jersey it is. Especially for my family because our actual extended family lives all the way on the other side of the country, on both sides of the border. When you only see your grandparents and cousins only once every two years they can seem more like strangers than family. But my parents always made sure that we were friends with our cousins. Why? Because they're our cousins. And family is forever. In Jersey, other church kids became our cousins—you were friends because you were Mormon and that bound you together, whether you liked it or not. We even had adopted grandparents in the ward—Sister and Patriarch Smith (Mrs. Smith was also my first grade teacher). And that family is forever, too. 

So now that I'm at BYU and I see kids I know from Jersey it is awesome. Because it's like a little family reunion every time. Even kids who haven't lived in the state since elementary school still count because we're still friends. And we always will be. Now, that doesn't mean that we hang out all the time or even have a ton in common, but because we are from New Jersey we will always have that special Jersey-family bond.

And that is why New Jersey is the best. 

Also because we invented the drive-in movie theater. And the light bulb. No big deal.