Michigan

When I first met my husband the summer after our first year in college he was majoring in International Marketing. I knew early on in our relationship that this was the guy for me but his major concerned me. I come from a large close knit Italian family and had absolutely no desire to move out of Michigan. None. I would not move. Period. My husband is an only child and his parents are divorced and live out of state. He has no family in Michigan so moving out of Michigan has never been a big deal to him. He knew this was important to me and eventually changed his major to Accounting.

Up until recent years I still held on to my "No-way, No-how" stubbornness. I. will. not. move. I never particularly cared for Michigan per say it was only my family that I refused to leave. I could do without the cold winters thankyouverymuch. I truly believe that I was meant to live in a warm climate. And by warm....I mean hot. Hot as in palm trees and sandy beaches. My family, however, is rooted here. I blame them for not getting the hell out of Dodge when they had the chance. Just kidding, Mom. =)

But in recent years I've begun to change my views. It's bad here in Michigan. In a way that only a fellow Michigander can understand. The morale in these parts is at a dismal low. The economy is all we talk about. 75% of my family work for one of the "Big Three". At every family gathering we take inventory on who still has jobs and who's worried about their job. Decreased home values, home foreclosures, and the down fall of the Detroit car companies is the conversation topic of choice when standing in line behind Joe Shmoe at the super market.

It's bad here.

Real bad.

So, I've been trying in recent years to be more open minded about "getting the hell out of Dodge." My husband has been trying to talk me into moving further south for years. He was considering calling the head-hunters and letting them know that a job out of state is no longer "out of the question."

But this morning? Things have changed. I think I have finally, after 36.75 years, fallen in love with Detroit.

Mitch Album recently wrote an article for Sports Illustrated and it was published in the Detroit Newspapers this morning. To my fellow Michiganders....."I love yah man." If you didn't pick up the papers and read it this morning you can read it in the link below. It is brilliant.

Mitch Albom: The Courage of Detroit