I've been wanting to blog for a few years now about what I have come to call, "Nebraska Nice!" If you have never lived in the Midwest then you have never truly experienced "Nebraska Nice." People in Nebraska are truly some of the kindness and most thoughtful people I know. They truly care about each other and they only want the best for each other. I like to think I have meet truly "Christ-like" people!
When Daren and I first moved to Kearney twelve years ago we were not sure what our experience here would be. We had spent our childhoods growing up in Southern California and then moving around for the first ten years of our marriage. We had most recently come from Upstate New York and were use to a certain type of personality.--don't get me wrong, we LOVED our time in Saratoga Springs!
It only took us a few minutes to notice a huge difference in the way people treat each other. People really are just kind. They genuinely know how to be Christ-like on every level. We experienced this from the help we received trying to find a place to rent to the way in which our children were treated on their first days of school. What a blessing for our family!
Each day it seemed Daren and I would comment to each other about some way we had observed this "Nebraska Nice!" Some more examples were fundraisers when a family had had a misfortune or the lack of horn blowing when a person didn't drive his car exactly how the person behind him thought they should. We found neighbors willing to offer services we never would have dreamed of doing. We had sidewalks shoveled and weeds pulled. We had doors being opened and smiles gestured. The list could go on.
One niceness that really sticks out to me is the what Daren and I like to call the "one-finger" wave. I think Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate, wrote about it in a poem about all things Nebraska. Daren and I are often found in our car driving through small cities and communities in Nebraska. It's just something we enjoy! It doesn't matter where we are or if the person knows us or not. Each time an on-coming car approaches the driver simply raises his index finger and gives us a little wave. It's so wonderful! It's "Nebraska Niceness" at it's best!
When Daren and I first moved to Kearney twelve years ago we were not sure what our experience here would be. We had spent our childhoods growing up in Southern California and then moving around for the first ten years of our marriage. We had most recently come from Upstate New York and were use to a certain type of personality.--don't get me wrong, we LOVED our time in Saratoga Springs!
It only took us a few minutes to notice a huge difference in the way people treat each other. People really are just kind. They genuinely know how to be Christ-like on every level. We experienced this from the help we received trying to find a place to rent to the way in which our children were treated on their first days of school. What a blessing for our family!
Each day it seemed Daren and I would comment to each other about some way we had observed this "Nebraska Nice!" Some more examples were fundraisers when a family had had a misfortune or the lack of horn blowing when a person didn't drive his car exactly how the person behind him thought they should. We found neighbors willing to offer services we never would have dreamed of doing. We had sidewalks shoveled and weeds pulled. We had doors being opened and smiles gestured. The list could go on.
One niceness that really sticks out to me is the what Daren and I like to call the "one-finger" wave. I think Ted Kooser, US Poet Laureate, wrote about it in a poem about all things Nebraska. Daren and I are often found in our car driving through small cities and communities in Nebraska. It's just something we enjoy! It doesn't matter where we are or if the person knows us or not. Each time an on-coming car approaches the driver simply raises his index finger and gives us a little wave. It's so wonderful! It's "Nebraska Niceness" at it's best!
I am so grateful for this time in Nebraska. I have grown to love the nice way in which I can live my life. I feel peace and I feel secure in my day to day life. I know that I am surrounded by kind and nice people! People really do have my back! It's a great feeling and I wouldn't want to raise my family anywhere else! Thank you Nebraska for showing me what "NICE" really means. I hope I can pay it forward just a bit!
1 comment:
At first I thought you meant something different by the "one-finger" wave. We get that a lot down here in AZ.
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