North Dakota can be an incredibly forgettable state to many people who pass through it. It's easy to breathe in the clean air and take it for granted. It's easy to think that there are bigger and better opportunities out there for you if only you could escape it. It's easy to crave the city lights now and again, making you wonder why you're still here. But the truth is, our roots grow so deep into the fertile ground here that I will always consider North Dakota, "home."

Because there is nothing like being able to walk across town, feeling safe, because everyone is watching out for you. They know your family and you know theirs.

Or being able to see the stars at night because there are hardly any street lights to dull their shine. And how you would sprint home from your childhood friend's house once it gets dark at night because of that same lack of light, and because you decided to watch a scary movie when their parents went to bed.

Or how the most genuine people live here and don't take a dime that they didn't earn. Calloused hands are a trophy for the people here. The farmers, teachers, and power plant workers, who give their all for complete strangers, come home tired, but feeling accomplished and proud.

Or how your next door neighbor calls you when she sees your dog escape out of your backyard fence, knowing you'd do the same for her.

Or how the same people sit down and have coffee with their old friends at the gas stations at 6 o'clock in the morning, while watching people head to work, or the local athletes heading to their morning practices, all while talking about how the team will do this season and catching up on the town gossip.

Or how you would sit with your family at the dinner table, but not start eating until you saw your dad pull into the driveway after a long 12 hour shift at work. And how nothing compared to your mom's homemade knoefla soup, which was a recipe passed down from generation to generation.

Or those sweet memories you have with your grandparents, as they'd pack you and all of your cousins in the bed of their pickup truck, shushing you all the way to the lake, even though they knew they wouldn't get in trouble. And how they'd hose you off when you got home before dinner.

Or how you would speed down the gravel road on the way out of town with tears welling in your eyes after finding out that cancer took them away from you. And how you were grateful for those gravel roads when they were there for you when no one else was.

Or the simplicity that comes with living here. The slow pace that you hated while running late for something, but loved when the weekends finally arrived.

Or watching an entire community come together when a tragedy strikes. Like how nothing is the same when one of your classmates dies unexpectedly and the whole school is shaken because everyone knew her somehow.

Or how your church pins pictures of all the soldiers from your town on their bulletin board, praying for each and every one of them to come home safe every Sunday morning.

Or how a wedding at the city hall turns into a community-wide party where alcohol is plentiful, enemies are scarce, and friends are reunited after being away for too long.

Or how school was never cancelled because it was snowing out, and how you took pride in leaving your house in -30 degree weather. And if you got stuck driving to the grocery store, the neighbor from across the street would come trudging over with their new shovel from the local hardware store.

Or realizing just how beautiful this state is while watching your first sunrise over the vast emptiness as you stand there alone, knowing that you could possibly be the only person within a 10 mile radius.

Or how homesick you become when leaving for the first time and realizing that small town North Dakota has always been, and will always be home.