South Dakota

I fly back to Arizona tomorrow, and because packing is one of the things I hate most in the world, I have decided to take a break and reflect on the three months I have spent in the Mount Rushmore State.

First, I have been sort of unfair to the state of South Dakota. If you have talked to me at all while I've been here, you have probably heard me say something along the lines of "I HATE THIS STATE ITS REALLY COLD AND I'M REALLY COLD AND THERE'S NO BEACH AND I HATE IT AND ITS DUMB AND I HATE IT". For that, I would like to apologize. It was not South Dakota's fault that I was in such a bad mood. When I first got here, I was angrier than I have ever been in my entire life. I was so mad about how Hawaii turned out, and since I didn't have anyone but myself to blame, I took out all of my anger on South Dakota as a whole. I refused to make friends, and was basically the angriest person on the planet. It was not good, and I want everyone to know that South Dakota does have its good points. Summers here are beautiful, and the motorcycle rally certainly something to be seen.

Second, part of me is actually kind of glad that I came here. The time of year was absolute shit, but coming here was one of the best things that could have happened for the relationship that I have with my dad. We've never been very close, and before this I hadn't seen him in over a year. Neither of us are very good at talking on the phone, so it was a year and a half of talking about the classes he was teaching and the weather. I was pretty surprised when he asked me to come out here, but I'm glad that he did. We have gotten a lot closer, and tonight when he gave me the last hug goodbye (my grandma is driving me to the airport) he was like "Hannah, you'll be OK". It sounds weird, but that is a huge step for us. I was also able to get a lot closer to my dad's wife and her parents, and that has been really nice.

I'm bad at ending things and I really need to finish packing, so I'll leave you with this: South Dakota was not the worst thing that could have happened to me. Surprised? Me too.