In Review

As 2006 fades into memory, I have time and purpose to reflect. 2006 has been a big year for us. Moving 1700 miles from the only home we'd ever known was a big adventure. To put it in perspective, from the time I was two-years-old until the day we moved, I'd had the same mail man, George. I remember running to greet him when I was a kid. And, then when Scott and I found out that he'd be our mailman on Vista Grand, that sealed the deal. Incidentally, I had the same UPS man, Bob, my whole life too. As funny as it sounds, I miss Bob and George and the Safeway clerks, Tom and Ken, as much as I miss my friends.

But, honestly, San Leandro never felt like home as much as Bismarck does and I've only been here six months and nine days. I don't know my mailman's name and the UPS man is fairly grumpy. The clerks at Super Wal-Mart weren't trained by my Baba in the 1950s like the clerks at Safeway. When I introduce myself as Kristy WOLFER Rose, no one asks me if I'm Dave and Karen's daughter. Strangers don't stop me on the street to see if I'm Ruth Orluck's grand-daughter. "Oh you look just like Ruth," they'd always say. And while I miss these things, there are more things to love about my new life here.

Someone once said that I sound a bit defensive about my new home in Bismarck. And why shouldn't I be when people back in California, most of whom have never visited ND, make derogatory comments or question our mental capacity for making such a decision? Most people extract all their "knowledge" of North Dakota from the movie Fargo. Though I like the Coen Brothers' movies, and people up here have unique accents (I'm catching it), that's about the extent of it. NONE of the scenes were actually shot in Fargo. Most of the movie was shot in the Coens' home state, Minnesota. Some was shot in a tiny town on the northeast border of ND, very near to Canada and Minnesota.

The fact of the matter is ND is not for everyone. That's why there are 40% less people in our entire state than in San Jose. There isn't a lot of diversity except for Germans, Norwegians, Ukrainians, Polish and Native Americans. There isn't much nightlife, but there is a lot of wildlife. We've had deer, geese, wild turkeys and even a badger in our yard. We do have cold weather, and we have gotten snow. But, we only get 1/10th the snow of Lake Tahoe; Bismarck schools haven't even had a snow day in five years.

If you don't mind being without a Ross or Trader Joe's, and if you would like to leave your car unlocked and know it will be there upon your return, then you might like it here. If you do visit and don't like it, that's okay. There are many places I've been that I haven't liked. And, if you still think we're crazy for moving here, you're right. You won't like it here. But that's okay because we Dakotans are trying to keep the population of our state to a comfortable 650,000.