Thank You, Glasgow

Two years ago this week, we embarked on our new adventure to Glasgow from Grand Forks, N.D. With a two-week old baby girl in tow, and a caravan consisting of a U-Haul and three vehicles stocked full with most of our belongings, we started the long nine-hour journey.

Moving weekend didn’t start out very easy or stress-free, never mind the fact we were also moving a baby and all of her belongings. We started the moving process a day later than planned, because the U-Haul wasn’t available when it should have been, all of our belongings didn’t fit in the vehicles, we didn’t have nearly enough packing done when our friends arrived to load the vehicles. Both Brandon and I were obviously overly ambitious on the amount of packing we were able to accomplish after MacKenzie was born. Our thought process: “Well, we’ll be up late nights anyway.” The entire weekend we were on newborn baby time, which further delayed the flow of moving.

As excited as we were to start this new adventure as a new family, we were convinced Glasgow was going to be short-term. One year, we told ourselves, one year and we will move closer to family and friends.

A month prior to moving weekend, at 36 weeks pregnant, we made the first trip to Glasgow to secure housing and meet Brandon’s new co-workers. As much as we were in awe of the scenery, that was when we determined Glasgow was going to be short-term. Coming from Grand Forks, and being born and raised in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, we never thought we would be able to succeed and survive the loss of conveniences. Walmart is two and a half hours away? The closest Target is in Billings, which is a five-hour drive? I can’t drive five minutes to pick up my favorite Caribou Coffee drink? There is no Caribou Coffee in Montana!?

We were so focused on the instant gratifications we were used to, we never fully knew the extent of a community and how people shape that community. Our first night here when we visited, we stopped at Eugene’s Pizza for dinner and met Sam Knodel. As we went up to the counter to pay, we made conversation on how the food was and mentioned we were going to be moving into town the next month. Making small talk with Sam that evening was weird to us, because coming from the bigger cities, you don’t talk to strangers, don’t even make small talk. Since that first encounter, Sam has known us by name ever since and makes sure to say hi every time we eat there.

Over the past two years, I have became more and more engrained in the community, getting to know more and more people. It’s now the norm to go to Reynold's, Albertsons, Shopko, out to eat, and have a conversation with a person that I know and see others in passing that I am familiar with. The cashiers, waiters and waitresses are getting to know us and our habits. People have seen MacKenzie grow from a newborn baby to a sassy toddler, and remark how much she has grown in such a short time.

I have also seen how this community comes together in tragedy and in happiness. When one of their own comes upon hard times, the entire community steps up, donates time, money, food, anything possible, to help ease the burden. We have been way more generous than we ever were in Grand Forks in terms of helping with fundraisers and donating to help various organizations in the community.

Two year later from our initial visit, I can’t think of anywhere else to call home. We are growing our family this fall, and are in the process of purchasing our first house. There have been opportunities to apply to jobs elsewhere, even a little closer to home, but I can’t bear the thought to leave. Do we still miss the conveniences? Of course, whenever I’m near a Caribou Coffee, I get giddy, savor every sip, and get a caffeine high everyday. UPS and FedEx drivers know me by name because of all of my online shopping. Even though there are obvious drawbacks to living in Glasgow compared to the big city life we were used to, I wouldn’t have it any other way.