It all starts as soon as the plane enters this small, yet interesting atmosphere. The landing becomes a brief yet gravity pulling harsh stop. My feelings of relief come about as soon as arrival to this place I call my hometown. The weather affects your entire body as soon as you walk out into this atmospheric, scene filled place. As I step off the plane, I find myself breathing in pure, clean, and crisp air instead of intense use of gases like you would in the state of Arizona. I start to feel many tiny bumps appear on my entire body because of the surrounding sounds, beautiful sights, and the bi polar weather. The surrounding sounds contain the mysterious wind weaving in and out throughout the tall, luscious, and green trees. The sights are breath taking; there are continuous hills that find themselves winding up and down; repeat, mass fields of green grass either tall or short, and best for last are the many streaming creeks full of trickling, clear, and enticing water that is shared with mass amounts of crawdads and tiny fish that scatter among disturbance of the smooth water.
The vibe of the people here is a vibe you cannot find in a regular average city, only in a small town. Since it is a town, you know everyone and everything. The citizens of this small town are greatly caring, giving, and entirely friendly only if their crops are not being messed with. This leads to the crazy amounts of farmers. The farmer’s fields either grow crops of corn, hay, wheat and even everyday vegetables. What is farmed is their dinner nightly. People here rely entirely on their crop fields like the Joad family in the book, Grapes of Wrath. Dinners here are always appetizing. Being born here, I was raised on great, healthy meals. A lot of frying is done here. If it is a taco shell, you fry it. I mean what I say! This only happens in the Midwest which is where this small yet mighty town is located. At dinner, there are many rules: first and for most, the man of the house is the first one to get his plate filled and the first to eat, second there are NO elbows on the table (consequences if so) and the best for last is that the women who make the meals and prepare them are the ONLY ones who clear and clean the kitchen while the men go out and do what needs to be done outside.
Yes, indeed everyone has an accent. Country accents are very strong out here. Here, Church is life. You arrive early every Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning, you are not allowed to miss unless bedridden with an illness or disease. Even though my family is separate in religion, I do still participate in their expressive activities that teach through the eyes of Mormonism. Many who abide here are of the religion, Mormon. Yet, as a family we still do many activities involving the church and mostly congregate outside; that is as if the weather has not changed its mood from sunny to drastic rain and gloomy.
The weather here may be very bipolar at times, especially the summer; June through August. This time is when the monsoons and rain storms hit at any given moment with no warning! A storm may even carry some damaging hail with it. It may be sunny at the moment until a massive grey clouds roll in rapidly from no where, at least it seems that way. Sometimes the clouds can carry hail and release that hail from the cloud for five minutes or longer. If the weather continues to storm, a tornado warning may be issued. When a warning is broadcasted (radio or TV), the family and I will go to the basement and play card games until further notice of safety. Within an hour this tornado can destroy the nine-hundred acres of my grandparents land. Now, I know why some people call this state “misery” instead of its actual name.
The feelings I experience here are quite unexplainable at times. When I am here, I feel many senses but one that stands out to me is the sense of relief and freedom; I’m finally home again. To me, there is no better feeling in the world when all the mistakes made, scars left, and all negativity is suddenly gone. Not a care in the world is given when I’m bridge jumping into the deep, luscious creek below. To understand beauty in nature is hard, but when you are here; you experience every ounce of love of this land. The best are the morning runs that I take. Adventuring and maneuvering through the muggy, misty forest located in the center of Plato, Missouri. This is my home; I feel whole again, I’ve missed it here.
