Where the green grass grows...

I haven't always lived in Bourbon County. When I was younger, my dad had a job that made us move several times. I never really minded, I love new places and new people and I was always one of those kids who adjusted really easily. The last time we moved, it was the summer after my 8th grade year and we had been living near Dallas, Texas.

At first, I didn't really want to leave Dallas, I was nervous about making the move to from middle school to high school anyway, I definitely didn't want to move to a high school that far away. But I had Uniontown and the Bourbon County area a lot, my grandparents owned the farm we would be moving to and I loved it, it had always been a special place to me.

We moved, and although I had been reluctant at first, I was excited to be closer to family ( cousins who had been 10 hours away were now 1-3 hours away) and I had always enjoyed my time at the 'farm.'

Summer went by, I spent my time going to Driver's Ed and enjoying the farm. I had never seen so much open land, I loved riding the four wheeler and seeing all the wildlife. The area in Texas where we had lived was more of a big city, while I loved all the shopping, restaurants and activities a city could offer, I loved the openness of the country. I could breathe in the country, and there was more sky in Kansas then I had ever seen.

The 'farm' that we moved to was outside of Uniontown, in an area most know as "Irish Valley." The house was an older farm house that my dad had been raised on and there was a small creek that runs along the side of the house. I spent most of my time outdoors, enjoying it all. I loved the green grass and all the trees that surrounded the farm.

When school started, I was nervous about attending a new school and being in high school for the first time. I was shocked at how small the classes were. Most classes that I went to had maybe 12 students in them. It was great. I had come from a school where my graduating class would have been about 800 students. Most classes that graduate from Uniontown have 25 or so students. To me, that was a big change, but an awesome one. I had never had so much one-on-one attention from teachers.

Another thing that I loved about school was that for the first time in a long time, I knew all of my classmates on a first name basis. In Texas, there were so many students that I didn't know everyone of my classmates, just groups of them that I knew from classes or activities I was in. Also, Uniontown was such a positive change, my school was comfortable; no worry about gangs or fights (except for the occasional girl fight).

Mapleton, where we attended church, was such a small town compared to any place I had ever been. I loved the "old time" feel to it and when I was a senior in high school I joined the fire department in Mapleton. To this day, it still feels like home and thats a new feeling for me. I loved all the places we have lived, but this is the first place I have lived in that I have actually thought "Wow, this is home, I never want to leave." And that's exactly how I feel about Bourbon County.

When my husband and I decided to settle down, neither of us really wanted to move away. We live on a farm near Mapleton, not far from my parents farm. No matter what life throws at us, we both know that this is where we want to raise our kids. I want my kids to play on the farm, know all their classmates and go through school with the same people from kindergarten until their seniors. I love the small classes and other opportunities that a small school has to offer. I want my kids to enjoy the wildlife, the big Kansas sky and live where the green grass grows...