There's no place like home

By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK

anne@iolaregister.com

I like stories with happy endings. Not necessarily every step of each character’s future foretold, but endings where the main character has taken that one right step that will set her on a better course, a course closer to her true self.

And so it is with me.

I decided to return to Montana to be near my inspiration: my two sons. My best self comes out when I am playing that essential role: their mom. 

Like Dorothy in the current Iola Reads book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” I simply long to be where my kin are. 

Also like Dorothy, I have met wonderful people on my journey away from home. Poets, artists, philosophers, photographers — Iola holds a wealth of talent.

It’s biggest, perhaps, is its heart.

Iolans are tenacious in their bond to family. Community plays only a short second, as evidenced by the willingness of so many to get involved in the electoral process of an incoming council, to support a new hospital that will help grow Iola into the future, to dress up in outlandish outfits and run in the middle of a hot summer night for the pure whimsical joy of it. 

Most of you would have this community thrive and grow and prosper, and do what it takes — your part — to make it so.

As for me, people have graciously shared their town, their stories, their dreams with me to, in turn, share with others — the larger readership of Allen County.

I truly have not met a stranger here.

Yet on a recent trip to Walmart, I marveled that there were so many faces I was still unfamiliar with. More so, my companion, born and raised here, knew no more people than I did.

But Iola is a small town, dependent on its connections to one another.

We’ve all seen the numbers that say the town loses population every year. But it doesn’t necessarily follow that that decrease need lead to decline.

Many are working to improve the amenities of living here, from efforts to establish a dog park to the success of a citizen-born river-side park. If you look around, you can probably find someone with a common interest.

But you won’t know if you don’t ask.

So, Iola: here is my challenge to you.

Pretend you are a reporter.

When at the grocery store or library or church service, say hello to a stranger. Not just a passing nod, but reach out your hand, offer a good old-fashioned “Good day.”

Ask about an interest. Strike up a conversation. 

Establish some new connections.

Help grow Iola from the heart. 

With such an effort, the town cannot fail. People may come and people may go, but ties will deepen, leading to a fuller life for all.

Would that I could have been part of it. But my children, like Dorothy, clicked their heels. I must follow.

Stacy Avery (right) of Humboldt's Stacy Cakes says goodbye to reporter Anne Kazmierczak by presenting her with a three-tiered cake depicting her forthcoming long ride up wintery mountain slopes ending in her greatest joy: being reunited with her two sons.