MN on my mind

I am a MN girl. Born and raised. Always have been and always will be but I will always wonder if there was something more...
When your in high school the world is so big and so are your dreams. You can do anything. You WILL be someone and you WILL do something with your life. So you sign up for college, because that is what is expected of you, that is what your supposed to do, that is what everyone does, and all of a sudden September rolls around and there you are...in college. But its not the college you always dreamed you would be in. Its a college that is close to home, and it's affordable...for you and the bank "granting" you your loans.
You finish at your average college, you get your average degree (mainly because you thought extracuricular activities were for the birds/nerds) and you go off into the real world.
Bills come. A mortgage comes. Before you know it you are repaying off your student loans for your education you can barely remember having. And your still in MN.
I have always dreamed of living somewhere else...some place where the sun never sets and the weather is always warm. Some place far away from here where everywhere you go you see a familiar face, someone who knows your past, someone who knows where you came from and probably has some judgement on who you will be when you "grow up."
My friends have done it...why can't I? Why can't I pack my bags and my dog and me and get in the car and just drive....keep driving until I run out of gas and the first town I come to... shack up. Is that crazy?
I could do it...I like to think I could anyway.
I admire my friends who have done that. Follow their heart and take a chance.
Now don"t get me wrong...I am not saying I have regrets about what has transpired in my life and where I am today...I am very grateful for what I have in my life...but is it wrong to listen to that tiny little voice in the back of my mind that says.."go...just go."
Why can't I be a California girl? Or a southern belle? I like to think that I would be a very cute country girl, throw a cowboy hat on this blonde head and give me a plaid shirt and I would fit right in down in Leeesiana, the Carolinas, or maybe even Texas.
But in my heart of hearts....I am a MN girl. Who am I kidding? I love that I say booooat. I love living for May...I count down the days from when football season starts to when baseball season begins. I live for the weekends on the lake, long drives up north and weekends filled with weddings. Minnesota summers are something everyone should experience before they die. It should be on everyone's bucket list...a summer in MN.
Thats why I stay here...waiting patiently (or not so patiently in my case:)) for those summer days and nights and Minnesota offers.
So this is the MN girl dilemma, we all want to leave, and some of us get the courage to actaully do it, but our hearts will always be here...in the land of 10,000 lakes....the land of four seasons, northern lights and starry nights....cheese curds and the GREAT MN State Fair....95 degree days and mosquito filled nights....country girl roots and BIG city girl dreams.

Later days,
DMD