it's not an east coast state, it's not a left coast state

It is official. I now live in Iowa. That's right, Iowa: not Ohio, not Idaho. No, they do not grow potatoes here. But they do grow corn, and lots of it. My mom told me that when my dad was selling Bibles door to door during his college summers he could tell how close it was to the end of the season by how high the corn was. I look forward to experiencing that myself. Not now, though, since summer is basically over.

Here is my little abode. Yes, it is purple. We (and by we I mean me and my mom while we were wandering down a secret path on our way to Anne Hathaway's cottage: the wife of Shakespeare, not the actress) have dubbed it (drum roll pleeeeeeeeease) The Grape Escape. You know, because of the purple. This name has also given rise to the official Grape Escape Day on November 30th. (Mark your calendars.) Presently I have the house all to myself. I thought it would be a little lonely, but so far, so good! Granted, my mom just left this morning, but still.

People say we look alike all the time. Can you tell?

We arrived Saturday around four o'clock after two days of driving. Don't worry, before that we had a day and a half of packing, and before that we were across the Atlantic for 10 days. No big deal. Blessidly we were able to pack everything in boxes, put it in my car, then unpack some things out of the boxes and stuff them around other boxes so that everything would fit. (My car's just a little guy.) Then we shipped 3 boxes (don't judge me and all of my belongings) and we were off!

We spent the whole first day in Iowa unpacking and cleaning. The next day we went to church and did some more unpacking and furniture rearranging. Then Monday we cleaned (almost) all the windows and did more cleaning and unpacking. Did I mention that the house was basically empty for 3 years before I moved in? That always makes things more fun. BUT you know what? All that cleaning and unpacking and rearranging actually WAS fun. You know why? Because I got to do it with my mom. She is seriously one of my most favorite people in the world. She is one of the hardest workers and most creative people that I know. Without her my little house would still be dirty and infested with fruit flies. Also there would still be a hole the the left of the sink in the kitchen, all the outlets would have mismatched covers, and the windows would be blindless and dirty. And I would probably be crying right now wondering what in the world I was even thinking moving to Iowa alone. Moms make everything better. Especially my mom.

I drove her to the little Cedar Rapids airport this morning, one of those airports so small that you only have to get there a half hour in advance, and even when the planes leave 15 minutes late they say they're right on schedule. I was a little bit worried that I wouldn't be able to handle being alone after literally spending the last 2 weeks with my family 24/7, but, like I said, things have been fine so far. I start classes tomorrow evening (I'm only taking 2 this semester, both night classes) and right now I feel perfectly content, though a little sleepy. As I drove away from the airport I cried a little, but it wasn't because I was missing my mom, it was because I was so grateful to have her. She is what all moms should strive to be, and what I wish to some day become.