I love Missouri. No, actually, I love St. Louis. Missouri is a strange place. But as much as I do love St. Louis, there are so many reasons I dislike living here. Most of them are just because I grew up in the greatest place on earth (West Michigan, guys, not Disneyland. They’ve been lying to you this whole time), and I miss it dearly. The other reasons I hate living here are because the summers are brutal (110 and humid, no thanks) and because there are an exorbitant amount of snakes (I haven’t actually seen one here, but I hear stories, and that’s enough for me).

Growing up in West Michigan, specifically Holland, was the greatest. The summers are magical, the beach is pristine (not to mention the water is clean and salt-free), the snow is beautiful, true nature is only ever less than a miles’ drive away. There are many festivals unique to the area, like Tulip Time and the Waterfront Film Festival and Coast Guard festival. There are no big-big cities nearby so it’s never extremely crowed, but it’s still big enough that most people know where you are talking about (which is usually followed by, “OMG you grew up there? I’ve been there/know someone who went to Hope/driven through and loved it/am jealous of your upbringing because it’s the greatest place on Earth, definitely in front of Disneyland.”).  Most people have vacationed in Michigan at least once (at least that’s what I’ve come to assume. Here in Missouri, Michigan is the place of choice for their summer vacas. But maybe I’ve been hanging out with too many Lutherans. They all go to Camp Arcadia [the second-most magical place on earth].) and have nothing but great things to say.

So Lydia, you would ask, since you love Michigan more than any place else in the world, why did you move to Misery? Well, I would answer, I fell in love during college, and my darling boyfriend-turned-fiancé-turned-husband moved back to his hometown of St. Louis before I graduated, so I moved here post-grad once I received a job offer. Coming up on 3 years of living here, I love it, I really do, but nothing can replace the spot in my heart for Michigan. I just miss it, and I hate being so far away.

My hometown of HollMich is a solid 6.5 hour drive from St. Louis, if you don’t get stuck in Chicago traffic. When I tell people that, most say “Oh that’s not too bad!” No. It’s terrible. It frustrates me to no end. It’s just a little TOO far for us to drive there for just a weekend without taking a few vacation hours, but also a little too close to justify spending money on airfare (which I have done, and always feel guilty about). Also, if you aren’t my parents with a very flexible schedule, nobody wants to come visit you. All our friends and siblings are low on the totem pole with their jobs, so we are their last priority when it comes to where to spend their precious vacation days. I get it. I really do. I’m in the same boat. But I miss them. Shout out to those of you who think we are important enough to visit. 🙂

As a result, we end up using all our vacation days to go there instead. Is it worth it? Absolutely. But I also want to take other trips with my new husband or maybe just take a vacation day to sit and rest around here, instead of spending them driving 14 hours (or 20 hours if we are going to Camp Arcadia. What can I say, we are Lutherans at heart.). But it also means we miss out on a lot of things going on there.

We split our Christmases and Thanksgiving between our parents, and it’s great, but I wish we could celebrate with everyone. We also often miss out on seeing my precious baby cousins who aren’t even babies anymore. My parents host everyone at their house on Thursday’s for seafood night, and I wish more than anything I could join. My brother recently got married to a hilarious girl I get along with really well, and I wish we could do young-couple things with them. My little sister is super funny and creative and a great cook and I wish I could get more fashion advice from her than I do via text. I wish I could have the late nights drinking beer and having bonfires on the beach with my childhood friends like the days of yore.

But, such is life. I am incredibly blessed to be where I am and I don’t mean to gripe. But I just miss my family, dang it. Thank goodness for group messaging on the iPhone and a mother who just signed up for Instagram, right?

And for good measure, here’s a cool picture of frozen Lake Michigan I took over Christmas. Seriously amazing.