Don't Forget Where You've Come From...

The above photo is the "wallpaper" I've assigned to the laptop I use nearly everyday. I love this photo! It reminds me everytime I power up the computer of where I've come from. I think that is so important. You see, a long time ago, I grew up on a farm in central Iowa. That is who I am.

This particular shot, taken in 2008, is looking out into my Dad's field on our 200-acre home place. This is just one of the fields I used to help plow and disc, and then plant and harvest corn and soybeans when I was a kid. This photo was also taken from the place where our family's barn, corn cribs, machine sheds and house are located, looking generally to the north on a beautiful day. This location is where I used to park the car I drove when I was in high school and/or home from college (we didn't have garages for our cars, only for the farm machinery).

The silver maple and mulberry trees you see in this photo are some of the ones I used to climb and play in when there wasn't much else to do on the farm. Many of the rocks/boulders we pulled out of the fields are piled/stacked along the fencerow at the base of these trees (along with some old farm implements and/or miscellaneous equipment no longer, or seldom, in use).

The sky and the clouds in this photo are very typical of what you can see all the time in Iowa.

So many thoughts and memories flood into my brain everytime I see this photo! It reminds me not to forget where I've come from. That's so important to me these days.

Why? Well, in another week or so, I will have lived with my family in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex for 24 years. I remember the first time we visited some relatives in this area back in 1982. I remarked to my wife, "I could never live here!" We were in the midst of some really crazy Metroplex traffic on LBJ and/or Central Expressway at the time, and it was really frightening to me back then.

Well, about three years later, we had actually moved here (be careful what you say "never" to). And, several times after that I would frequently look out from my office at LBJ and Hillcrest and say to myself, "What's a farm boy from Iowa doing in a place like this?" I guess I've since made the adjustment.

However, adjusting to the environment you are placed in is one thing. Becoming somebody completely different than who you are and where you've come from is something else.

You really can't deny or hide where you've come from. It shapes you, it affects you, it has already determined a lot about you. And I'm here to state that most all of that is a very good thing (at least for me).

For example, because of my farm background and humble beginnings, I'm really not all that impressed with flash and glitz and glammer. Never have been. I'm also not that impressed with "wealth" (or really the blatant conspicuous consumption people do these days to try and convince you they are rich, even though most of what they have was bought with credit). I grew up with a lot of wealthy farmers, my Dad being one of them. But, to meet him, you'd never know that he has a lot of money. I like that authenticity.

I'm also a pretty loyal, faithful guy. When you grow up on a farm in Iowa, you just take a lot of the things in your life as "givens" and don't worry too much about trying to change any of them. I know that I had dreams when I was a kid, and I am probably living some of them out right now. But, I don't ever remember sitting there on the farm and wishing I was someplace else. I was taught that you make the best of the situation you find yourself in. People just didn't spend their days wishing they were someplace else. We were in Iowa, for goodness sake! Why would you want to be anyplace else anyway? :-)

I'm so grateful for my upbringing and the place where I've come from. Being an Iowa farm boy has really shaped my life in so many ways and there's nothing I can do to change that. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't want to even if I could!

Don't forget where you've come from...