Dearest Midwest,

Hi, it's me, Audrey. I'm one of the thousands of girls that walk from one end of my college campus to the other in the blistering cold during this beautiful season of winter. I'm the one in about 17 layers of clothing and a giant scarf. Oh wait, that's everyone.

I wanted to write a letter of appreciation to you today, because while it may seem as if I don't appreciate where I live a lot of the time, I promise you, I definitely do. While you're currently full of dead, scraggly-looking trees and gray skies, this is what I grew up with. A kid from the midwest comes to expect this weather, year after year.

Midwest, I will admit, I hate having to clean off my car before I go to Walgreens down the street. That was never my intention. When I'm in my dorm room thinking, "I need ____ at Walgreen's", I somehow never account for the time it might take to scrape 5 layers of ice off my windshield before actually pulling out of my parking spot. Therefore, what should be a quick 15 minute trip turns into the drive, plus 15 minutes of warming up my car, scraping off ice, and getting snow in the sleeves of my jacket as I open my car door and it all just flies right in there. While we're on the subject of fun weather, what's up with the ice. There's just so much ice. Like, you can cool it (pun definitely intended). My back is strained from having to walk like I'm on a tight rope everywhere I go. Driving on the ice is pretty bad too. You just never know when your car is actually going to stop nowadays. It's like a fun, dangerous game. Okay it's just a dangerous game.

Could you make the sky look a little less depressing? Maybe my campus too? The colors of winter include white, off-white, gray, yellow-white, and dark gray (slush on the side of the road). Maybe throw some nice bright colors in there. I'm a photographer, and pictures don't look too awesome this time of year. Icicles are fun to snap photos of, but that's pretty much the only thing during this time of year.

Midwest I get that I'm complaining a lot, and I want to thank you for putting up with that little rant. Now, I honestly just want to appreciate what growing up in the Midwest has done for me. Because while scraping off the ice on my car sucks, it's taught me how to manage time better, and it's made me more accustomed to cold and doing work in the cold. I think working and living and simply walking in these frigid conditions has made me stronger as a person. I laugh when my friends from Florida or California put winter coats on in 40 degree weather, because in Wisconsin that's shorts weather. There's a lot of gross slush on the roads in winter, but there's also a lot of beauty in the world. Long stretches of untouched cornfields blanketed in fresh snow are my favorite. Frozen bodies of water glisten. And I love looking at my breath in the cold air. Christmas time is magical, and hot chocolate is warm and delicious.

I love the midwest because it has offered me a truly fantastic upbringing. As much as I love the city, the people I've grown up with are some of the kindest, most genuine souls you'll ever meet. In the midwest, people care for one another and crave family. Not one person is alone, and I love the morals I was taught here in almost Canada. I've loved knowing the people on my street, my church community, and the owners of the local restaurants and stores in my area. I grew up near a pond in a small neighborhood outside of town, and I'll always go back to relax in the quiet calm of my home. The people here are simple. They love to fish and hunt and make their own things. They'd rather do things themselves than pay others to do a job they could learn how to do. They stick together.

So, to sum up... Midwest, you will forever be my home. You are the sweet and comfortable place I call mine; the region of the world I can always come back to and fall back on. As I move on in the future to cities I know I'll be moving to, or countries I know I'll be visiting, the midwest will remain where I grew up and where my heart is drawn. Thank you, midwest.

P.S.... Maybe make it like, a few degrees warmer. Remember, we're almost Canada.