I love Ohio

My husband and I have discussed many, many times that when our youngest has finished high school (in 4 years) we would like to move to the Pacific Northwest. It is so fabulously beautiful there, and all around are nature's masterpieces: ocean beaches, snow-capped mountains, towering spruce and cedar. I would be dishonest if I tried to claim that Ohio has nature on that scale. We do have Lake Erie to the north and lovely, rolling hills as you head east, but no mountains. No ocean.

What Ohio has in abundance are fields of corn, soybeans, and wheat. And in my Ohio-born heart, there is such beauty in those crops of emerald green and honey-brown. I love them in the summer when the sun is hot and the insects buzz continuously, and in the autumn, when the soyfields turn brilliant yellow and the corn stalks have become faded and dry. The dirt is beautiful, too. It's a dark, rich brown, and miraculously nurtures little seeds so they can become our daily bread.

Jim and I will no doubt continue to talk about relocating to the mountains and ocean one day. In the meanwhile, the corn and wheat and dirt will nourish my soul.