In Missouri, But Not Of Missouri?

I was born in Michigan and probably always will be proud to call it the state of my birth. I actually don't remember living there, though.

When I was small, our family moved to Indiana. At that point it was just my parents, older brother and I. There was a toy store near our home and a dentist's office. I remember that there were used syringes in the trash behind the dentist's office. How that would be frowned on now! My brother and I walked to school across some major (or at least it seemed so then) streets. While we lived in Indiana, my younger brother was born. And I underwent some radiation treatment to erase a huge birthmark between my eyes. (I kid now that it was that procedure that made me odd.)

When I was in first grade, we moved to Tennessee. A family friend kidded that we would have one leg longer than the other from running around in the hills. My brother and I went to a country school where each teacher taught two grades. It was there I received my one and only school paddling. We were playing dentist and I used a pencil as a dental instrument. It was in Tennessee that I accepted Christ as my Savior on June 10, 1970. My youngest brother was born while we lived in Tennessee.

When I was in fourth grade, we moved to Pennsylvania. Our family began seeing a chiropractor and sure enough, I had one leg shorter than the other. We lived near the Susquehanna River, but we called it the Squashed Banana River. By this time I had come to the conclusion it was going to be me and three brothers. Not so. My one and only favorite sister was born about eight months before we moved away.

We arrived in Missouri (or Misery as I liked to call it) about a week before I started seventh grade. I didn't know anyone except my immediate family and the family we were living with until my parents could find us a house. We lived in a small town where many people were (and still are) related to each other. We were told to not talk about people because we would probably be talking to one of their relaives. It was tough going. I was shy and didn't have many friends.

In my early twenties, my older brother and I started attending a singles' Sunday school class in a larger town and that is when I started really making some friends and having some fun. Since then I've gotten married, had a child, and had my share of ups and downs. I have long since come to a place of peace about living here. Like every other state, it has it good points and bad points.

So I share all of that to say this: I have lived in Missouri for almost 35 years, the majority of my life. I have put down roots here. But I feel like a transplant, that I do not fully belong to Missouri. I don't know that I will ever completely claim it.