Crack Heads

A couple days ago, I added a link to my sidebar, Urban Prarie Refueled. It's the blog of designer, Chris Brown. This guy is amazing. I'd try to describe his style, but why don't you just go check him out. Then go check out his main website. Then the post title will make sense, I promise.

Some of you may not know, but even though I was born in Alaska, I spent the bulk of my childhood in the cornfields of Illinois, and so I've always been a country girl at heart. I've never lived on a farm...that wasn't my single-mom's idea of making a living. But the restaurant she ran was the gathering place, B.S. central, for the local farmers each morning, where they fueled up on coffee and farm-talk before heading back out to the fields. And that is in my blood. I have such an admiration for those who make their living off working the land.

But since I moved back to Alaska in 1989, I've been pretty far removed from those roots. What does this have to do with Chris Brown? Well, since I first visited his website, it got me thinking. Thinking about how it doesn't have to be one or the other. Rural or urban. That I can be true to my roots without moving back to the cornfields. That the things I surround myself and my family with can come from what moves me the most, what I'm drawn to, what I long for, without uprooting my children from what they've known their whole lives.

Confession time: For several years I've wanted to move back to the midwest. But I know without a doubt that once I got there, I'd miss Alaska like crazy. My mom had a terrible habit of uprooting us and dragging us across the country when these crazy whims hit her, when she felt restless, or just needed a change. So when I "confess" to wanting to move, it isn't something said lightly. It's one of my biggest fears, in fact. The fear that I won't know my own happiness when it's staring me right in the face.

So, back to Urban Prarie. Chris has inspired me to go with what's in my heart, regardless of where my pin is on the map.

Be sure and check out the designers' websites that he has on his blog. Some really cool stuff.