1. I can drive cattywhompus across town, one corner to the other, in fifteen minutes, max.
2. We have three different places where we can get frozen custard.
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| Blog research is hard work. |
3. When you go to any store in town, you are likely to run into someone you know at least as an acquaintance. Which can be bad news if you decide to throw on some clothes and run to the store with bed hair and no make-up.
4. We don't have any really, really bad parts of town.
5. We have a delightful hardware store downtown that looks and feels just like the one my grandpa (and later, my dad) had in the early 1960s. The people who work there are always helpful, and if you need just one screw, you can usually buy just one screw and not a whole package of them, like you have to do at the big box stores.
6. Your oncologist sits across the aisle from you in church. Your dentist is one of the ushers.
7. Our football team is never fantastic, but there is still a huge turnout at home games.
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| Go Eagles! |
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| Built in 1933. |
8. We know our comfort food. Chicken fried steak. Barbecue (just not on Sundays). Burgers. Pie.
9. A state-of-the-art high school is currently under construction. It will be completed (hopefully) in time for classes to begin next fall. (The reason we are getting it is because the old one blew away in a tornado, but, hey, silver linings!) My daughter should start her sophomore year there.
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| Three days after the tornado. |
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| Build faster! Build faster! |
10. And yes, one-third of the town was literally blown away in an EF-5 tornado two years ago, but our local government and school district leaders rolled up their sleeves and took immediate action. Neighbors helped neighbors. People didn't stand around, wringing their hands and whining on national tv about needing the government to come in and help us. (Not that the government didn't help. They did. As did thousands of volunteers. But the citizens and local leaders were proactive.) It's coming together. Homes and businesses are being rebuilt, trees planted.
We are Joplin.
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| "And even though I expect that some of you will ultimately end up leaving Joplin, I'm pretty confident that Joplin will never leave you." - President Obama's address to JHS Class of 2012 |
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A Fly on our (Chicken Coop) Wall, Considerings, Finding Ninee, I can say mama, I Want Backsies, Steps into Parenthood, Thankful Me, The Wakefield Doctrine
