Thanks Iowa (Rough)

Thanks Iowa

As a young child I lived in Boise, Idaho, my family and I would take an annual trip to my Grandmother's house to visit on various vacations. My grandmother, Inez, lives in a small town in Iowa called Decorah and has lived in Iowa most all her life. Decorah, as most of Iowa, was like traveling to another country, specifically Norway, as the Norwegian influence was throughout the town. This place had a feel of a small tight knit community where not one person is a stranger and they make you feel at home, even if you have never been there before. I would always remember how nice and friendly all of Inez's friends and neighbors would be to me, being a hansom young lad at the age of nine. I was always the center of attention which made the house feel very warm and comfortings with all the love and imbrace that my family and friends would surround me in. The years when we visited on Thanksgiving was always most memorible to me because my grandmother would cook the most suculant ham with the tastiest Linnonberry glaze, which was similar to a traditional cranberry glaze. I believed that these fond memories of my grandmother's house at Thanksgiving and the Norweigian influences helped impacet the way I was raised to love and cherish family, have polite manners, and be happy with the simpler way of life.

I will always remember driving down my grandmother's street, at last after over a day of driving, and seeing nearly ever house with wooden Norweigian gnomes peeking out of every window or on their front porch holding sign, Velkommen. Which I guess was Norwegian for welcome in. I would know that I have arrived in her loverly town, which seemed magical to a nine year old kid. After setteling, we would head into town, as my grandmother was very excited that we were there. She was a shorter lady who spends her days alone so when family comes to visit her her eyes light up and she gets a burst of energy that lasts for days. As we would get into town I would remember how tiny their Safeway was compared to most others around the country. It was about a quarter the size of a normal one and they would wrap their meats in paper like ealier years. She would also bring us to many local shops that were located on the main street of the town. There was kitchen shops, shoe stores, my favorite ice cream parlers and one particular store that caught my eye was a Norwegian girt store. They sold varius metal artwork, cloths of all kinds, and figuriens ranging from very tiny to some larger more intricite figures. In the middle of the store was a older man working away at his next project to display on his shelves. As i grew older i learned to appreciate his hard work and the dedication he had toward his job. His figurines were very detailed and his artwork was very well crafted. I was very intregied to see a man contently sit in his shop all day making a simple life for himself.

Most of my family also lives in Iowa. My Aunt and Uncle, Marry and Tom live in Waterloo as well as their children, Brad, Brian, and Nicole who are all over thirty and have children of their own. Brad has a little daughter named Eden and Nicole also has a daughter named Kirsten who are both around five years old. I also have another Uncle named Jeff who is my favorite relitive of them all. He is fat bellied, 6 foot tall man with very little hair left who drives a semi truck for a living. Yet he is a very funny and loving individual. He was very memorable to me because he would always joke around with my grandmother and it would always make me laugh. He definatly had the most impact on me out of all my relitives. the family that surrounded me when i was there is very loving and I would always enjoy my time there.

During my grandmother's famous Thanksgivings' the most vivid thing that I could remember was the wonderful smells that would fill her little house. From the rubarb and apple pie to the potaoe gratin and of course the turkey and ham combinded to send your taste sensories to overdrive. Once we finally said grace and dug into this masterpeice of a homemade meal it was like heaven right there in my mouth. Bits of warm meat and perfectly accompanied side-dishes that would melt in my mouth. The Lingonberry glaze that my grandmother would create burst with the most wonderful flavor and lay atop a heaping pile of her famous suculant ham. Everything about her Thanksgivings were so magical and perfect. The family would always come together to get lost in each other company and foget all our worries for one night to enjoy our mother, or grandmother's cooking.

The times I spent in Iowa were some of the best times of my life. It help settle me down to live a more simpler life for a week or two. It was very good for me to leave the hectic life-style of a big city to come to a little town that knew nother of a justin beiber or could care less of a terroriest attack. Iowa also taught me to work hard for your living and that family is the most important thing on this planet. I enjoyed every minute of every trip that I took there. It was just a pain to drive all that way and excpecially driving through Nebraska. Yikes! But most of all the Thanksgiving meals had the biggest impact on me. My grandmother's cooking would always bring the whole family together and bring the best memories of some of the best years of my childhood. Now my second cousin's Eden and Kirsten can grow up in an environment that was similar to my childhood. And it is now my job to help grow strong loving imiges that they can cherish for the rest of there live. Or maybe ill just leave that to my grandmother's cooking.