What is your hometown?

Steve and I, in downtown Minneapolis, where I was born. I was raised in the suburbs.
 This is where I grew up: Tipton, Iowa.
The view out the back window where I live now: North Scott County, Iowa.

 I once served on an advisory committee for the North Scott School District.

Nominated by the principal at my daughter's elementary school, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience through the school year. We parents and district stakeholders were an advisory group, of sorts, to the superintendent.

The first meeting was notable because the superintendent had simple questions that confused us newbies: What is your hometown? Where are you from?

Uh, what exactly? Some of us shrugged, wiggled uncomfortably, and said "North Scott."

Now, I love living in North Scott but I actually didn't move into the district until 1993. I was born in Minneapolis, Minn., and raised in Tipton, Iowa.

What is a hometown, anyway?

According to dictionaries, "hometown" is the place where one is born, grew up, or has a present residence.

That can be several places, right?

After a lot of thought I concluded: I came from Minnesota and grew up in Iowa, with strong allegiances to where I went to school (Tipton, and Iowa State University). I spent sixth grade to 12th grade in Tipton, so was 11-18 years old. Most of the important experiences in life happened in this Cedar County community.

Professional sports allegiances came via my Dad, and Grandpa, so these originated in Minnesota: The Twins (baseball) and Vikings (football).

What is your hometown? How do you define it?

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