two years

I celebrate my second year here this month and for my anniversary, I'd like to share how I've changed. Some of it's good. Some of it's bad. Some of it it makes me want to run to the nearest metropolis and hide within its 70-story skyscrapers. 

May I present to you:

"You know you've lived in North Dakota for two years when..."

• you own more pairs of mittens than pairs of shorts, swimwear and flip flops combined. 
  
• you know what it means to "bake dirt."
• people still stare and you and make fun of your "city girl" clothes, but now, you no longer care.
• you can't buy groceries, drink at the bar or go for a walk without bumping into someone you know. You may have moved here knowing no one, but in two years you know EVERYONE.
• you tell stories to people who aren't interested and who would rather not know (i.e. split-in-pants). You're justification is: everyone knows anyway, because here, everyone equals three people.
• you've consumed and cooked kuchen, knoephla and lefse.
• you've mastered the art of climbing through snow.... To plug your car in... In 3-inch heels.
• you've forgotten what a Sonic Cherry Limeade tastes like.
• subjects like native grass and animal behavior suddenly interest you.
• you consider planting both flowers and vegetables, although you never actually do.
• instead of calling the noon meal "lunch," you call it "dinner."
• you begin questions with "say..." i.e. "Say Cowboy, how do you feel about allowing 12-year-olds to handle firearms?"
• you know that North Dakota's hunting age is 14. And that they cancel school on the first day of deer season.
• you know that Bobcats and Rhinos aren't just animals, they're also all-terrain humvees and you'd be CRAZY not to own one.
• you don't own one. 
• you pump your fists in excitement for the county fair.
• leaving the windows open at night no longer scares you.
• leaving your purse in your car no longer scares you.
• leaving your apartment unlocked (although you'd never do it on purpose) no longer scares you

And last but not least, you know you've lived in North Dakota for two years when:

• you launch You Tube and search "How to filet fish".