Wasn’t it fun when a new college friend would drop a piece of lore from their hometown? For instance, my roommate had a childhood friend named Christina Flandrina. Why? How? I needed to know Christina’s whole backstory.

Every time I dropped information about my hometown, my college friends filed it away under “quaintest upbringing of all time.” One of my friends said, “Chelsey, every time you talk about where you come from, I imagine it in black and white.” I responded to this (not untrue) observation by throwing myself into city life and falling in love with Minneapolis. I married my small town sweetheart, but we moved across the country instead of going back home.

Now we’re back, and, with fresh eyes, I appreciate the charms of Midwest living all the more (quaint as it may sometimes be). Here’s a short list to give you an idea of what we’re working with:

• My high school best friend and I married brothers. We started dating them around the same time, but we swear it was unintentional.

• My sons see my childhood pediatrician. He had just started his practice when I was a toddler, in the early 90s, and he’s still working full time. He and his wife paint murals in every exam room, and so far we’ve seen the Dr. Seuss, Star Wars, Fancy Nancy, and Disney scenes.

• I go to the same chiropractor I’ve seen since I was a baby. The other day, an older lady in the waiting room remarked that she’d been going there for over 20 years, and I was like, “try over 30, girlfriend. I have you beat.”

• The summer before high school, my kindergarten best friend and I decided to see each other every single day over summer, and we did it. When we weren’t hanging out for the day, we walked or rode bikes to each other’s houses (just down the road) for a quick wave.

• My high school drama teacher came to one of my Craft Club meetings, and she hasn’t aged a bit. Now that I live close by, we have occasional coffee dates.

I have mixed feelings about raising my kids here, but I hope they get a warm, safe feeling every time they come home—and I kind of hope they find a friend with a wild name so we can tell stories about them forever.

ICYMI

The Sunday Collection

• As a passionate acupuncture evangelist, I was thrilled to read about the “interstitium,” AKA something acupuncturists and functional Chinese medicine practitioners have known for centuries, but Western medicine is finally catching up on. (NYT gift link)

• I planted lantanas in hanging pots for the front of my house, and I’m obsessed with their multicolored petals. Fun to paint, fun to admire.

• Speaking of flowers, do I need a gardening hat? (I don’t, but it would look really cute on me.)

• I’m so proud of our friend Sam, who is running for city council. Our very own millennial Leslie Knope! And our friend Zach Wahls, who is making waves in his grassroots campaign for a US Senate seat in Iowa. In a time when it’s hard to find much to love about America, I look to these smart, capable, and compassionate people for inspiration.

• Since we’re thinking about campaigns, if Joshua Henry doesn’t win a Tony award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Ragtime, I will riot in the streets. Yes indeed, among all of today’s injustices, this would be the one to break me.

Currently Reading

After a major audiobook slump, I started listening to In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde and can’t stop! It’s a perfect summertime read with just enough baseball, impeccable tension-building, and feminist themes.

Substack Summer Reading Recs

• returns with a backlist summer reading list for literature lovers. This year, she is donating proceeds from her Paperback Summer Reading Guide to I AM ALS in honor of her dad, who passed away from ALS this past spring.

• is matching those donations with proceeds from her Nonfiction Reading Guide, a deep dive into unputdownable true stories.

• just shared her All Things Summer Reading Guide in a beautiful magazine format.

• And , one of my earliest internet bookworm connections, released her Middle Grade Summer Reading Guide to help young readers stay booked all summer long.

I’m sure I’m missing other summer reading guides from folks here on Substack, so drop additional links in the comments for crowdsourcing.

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