Super's Intro

The Nebraska thing. Oh my, my. I can go on *forever* about this subject. Super, you were dead on when you said if you ever had kids to raise them in Bellevue. DO IT! RichN was part of the great "let's not have a strong military presence" back in the early 90s. *whistles* and won't name the president although he did like cigars a hell of a alot. Anyway, I moved to Nebraska kicking and screaming. Cows, I thought. Wheat fields, I thought. Nothing there. RichN was depressed. I kept coming up with positives (Piglet Mentality). "Gee honey, Chicago is just eight hours away, Kansas City three hours, Denver ten hours". All doable. And we did.

But you know what? Even when the great and almight American president said "thank you so much for you effort but it's no longer needed", we stayed. In Nebraska. And why? Because it was a great place to raise a family. The schools in Bellevue were top notch. I believe they were rated in the top 50 in the country. Omaha schools sucked but Bellevue schools were wonderful. Good family values as well.

Once the military aspect of our lives was gone, we had a decision to make. Stay or go back East to where our families were. We stayed. For another eight years. Because we wanted to. The cost of living was better, the schools were better, the traffic was better. The weather was horrible, though.

I endured a very severe traffic accident that had me hitting a retaining wall at 50 MPH on a snowy morning. Not good. I asked RichN after that why the hell we were still in Nebraska. His response was "fear of the unknown". Elmono requested we stay until he finished high school. So we did. And then moved to warmer climates.

But Nebraska is a fond, fond place for us. Elmono can tell you stories of how he grew up. RichN can definitely tell you how he had to repair the front lawn numerous times because of the baseball games. Those were classic in the neighborhood. We had the bigass weeping willow tree in the front yard. I have no idea how the heck that thing survived in the summer but it grew bigger than anything. It was in the smack dab middle of the "field". Our front lawn was a baseball diamond. The driveway was beyond the outfield. RichN and I had to police the kids that played because there were actually adults and advanced teenagers who tried to take over the place.

And the night the lights went out in our house. Just us and the immediate neighbors. Not the people across the street. They noticed us trying to figure out what was going on. We spent the evening and into the next morning (power was restored around 1:00 AM) with them.

RichN and Elmono going trick or treating with our backyard neighbor and his daughter. Because he showed up at our front door with a cooler of beer and said "wanna tag along?".

Here in the burbs of Atlanta, our next door neighbor hasn't uttered one single word to us in the entire four years we've been here. The others are nice but distant. Nebraska wasn't Beaver Cleaver but it was close.

Almost twelve great years in Nebraska. It didn't suck. But there's no telling that to people who have never been there. Think about it. Why the hell would Warren Buffet choose to live there? Why would Con-Agra have their headquarters there? PacU? Mutual of Omaha? Woodman of the World? Campbell?

No, Nebraska is NOT the home of steers and queers. It's a great place. I love my life in Atlanta but Nebraska has such fond memories.