Aaaaahhhh, Kansas!

All but one of the Boys chose colleges outside our home state. One of the indispensable items they require when leaving home, though, is a flag. The three expatriates have taken state flags with them to remind fellow students that you don't mess with Kansas, either.

I know just how they feel. When I was in high school, I thought I wanted to move somewhere interesting. Interesting, of course, was defined as having mountains or oceans or mass transit. Even though I had grown up in Kansas, this place just wasn't happening enough for my 20-year-old self.

Then I ended up in the Peace Corps. I had oceans and mountains and mass transit, and sometimes all three at once. As an added bonus I had gorgeous sunsets, cartoonish-looking birds, earthquakes, and tropical fruit straight off the tree.

But at the risk of sounding like the most-despised movie in Kansas history, there's no place like home.

That strikes me again today as I look out my office window. Six days ago the temperature was -20 degrees when I rolled out of bed. The Snow Joe and I were clearing off sidewalks and we were cancelling classes because it was just too darned cold. Today, at this moment, it's 55 degrees, with highs tomorrow expected to be in the upper 60s.

How fun is that? We can complain about the cold and the heat all in the space of less than a week, and not many places with mass transit can do that.

As Boy#1's Facebook group proclaims as it celebrates the sesquicentennial, Ad Astra Per Awesome! Because every day should be Kansas Day.