Feelin Minnesotan

For whatever reason people who know me just know that I have an strong interest in my homeland. The land of the rising sun, the Emperor, geisha houses, yes indeed Minnesota has been very good to me.

I doubt it is merely a coincidence that my all-time favorite baseball player is Kent Hrbek, my all-time favorite basketball player is Kevin McHale, my all-time favorite Nobel Prize Nominated Literature Writer is Bob Dylan, my all-time favorite novelist/short story writer is F. Scott Fitzgerald, my all-time favorite Vice President is Walter Mondale and one of my most favorite Hollywood gal pals is Winona Ryder. All these people hail from the land of 10,000 lakes, land of the loons, of course, and it is with a certain kinship and local pride that I admire their work.

I never thought that I'd be one to spend my entire life in one place but more and more it is looking as though that will be the case. As out of place as I sometimes feel, deep inside I am a Minnesotan, and becoming more and more of one each and every day.

This past week was a good example of how Minnesotan I am becoming. One of the most defining moments back in my formative years, was when they moved our baseball team from a perfectly acceptable ballpark in Bloomington, to a plastic bubble downtown. Despite being easier to get to, I was one of many who protested the turn to indoor baseball. It's not even the same game, and though the Twins have enjoyed their greatest years indoors, there somehow will always be something tainted about their two world championships because they were accomplished by taking advantages of the nuances of domeball rather than the traditional bounces of baseball.

Thursday was the final night of my softball season. I was surprised and a little disappointed when they didn't call the games off despite it raining for most of the day. The last thing I wanted to do was have to play in the cold and drizzle. I didn't think it was a good sign that when I arrived there were a bunch of ducks wandering around the outfield. Sure enough the field was a swamp, and we sloshed and slipped our way to two victories to cap a good season. In my youth the weather conditions would have been enjoyed, part of the game, but now days I'm a dome guy and was the loudest whiner that we shouldn't have been playing at all. I now crave climate control, picture perfect conditions. Outdoors, shmoutdoors.

Later that night I was enjoying a catching up conversation with my friend who now resides in San Diego. "They have year round softball leagues here!" I continue to admire and envy her ability to move from place to place with no looking back. She has lived in many different parts of the country, adapted to each and every one. Some day soon she WILL be running things. She was telling me she can't imagine ever coming back to Minnesota. She said she was thinking about that Halloween snowstorm of a few years back, when we were slipping and sliding our way to work- and she can't for the life of her understand why she lived here in the first place. Damn fine question.

But some of us don't have as big a reach. Some are quite content to continue to face the familiar, and some even can make new what has been there for a long long time. Different strokes for different folks. If you haven't been there before, you can't be there again. And there is something about the folks around here that makes living here worthwhile. Just as I was losing all faith in humanity, last week my stolen checkbook showed up in my mail. None of the checks were missing and it was quite the surprise that someone took the time to return it to me. You think the same would happen in Los Angeles or New York? Minnesota nice can work both ways. Sure it can be annoying but when you look at the alternative well...

"It's all about diffusion as I cry for her veil, I don't need anybody now beside me to tell. And it's all affirmation I receive, but it's not. She's alone, pardon, beauty, but she don't like the spot and she calls... Yes, she's gone like the rainbow that was shining yesterday. But now she's home beside me, and I'd like her here to stay. She's a lone forsaken beauty, and it's 'don't trust anyone.' And I wish I was beside her, but I'm not there, I'm gone."