The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

The Greatest Places Are Closest

by Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor/Publisher

13 October 1999

The past several days have been the most gorgeous days that I have ever remembered having in Illinois.

The reds and yellows of the Sugar Maple trees, the Indian summer air, and so many busy with harvesting their crops, make me feel very lucky that I live in the Midwest.

Many yearn for the big cities, the classy theaters, the blue lakes, or the large shopping malls, but I am beginning to feel that the greatest places are right here in our own back yards.

My mother and I begged my father one year to travel with us to California and join us for great adventures and beauty.

His reply was, there is nowhere I would rather be than in Henderson County.

Boy, did I look at him a little peculiar and continued to try and convince him.

He didn't know what could be better anywhere else than right here.

When I mentioned the ocean, he mentioned the river, the ducks, and the Delta Queen.

When I mentioned the beaches, he said there was plenty of sand in Oquawka.

When I mentioned the fine food and eloquent restaurants, he said there is nothing better than the catfish at Olson's Diner, or the T-bone steaks my mother cooked.

My mother and I went to California with my two brothers that year, while my dad stayed home.

We saw Hollywood, put our hands in the movie stars' handprints, walked along the beaches, went to Disneyland, and ate our first Chili Dog.

My brother David and I spent a lot of time playing jacks in our hotel room.

We went to the amusement park in Long Beach and laid on the beach where both my mother and I got terrible sunburns. Yet, I thought it was a great time and great weather.

I returned to humid Illinois to shake my head at my father who was busy inside the newspaper. I never did understand what sickness had struck my father.

A few years ago, I was doing a story on the Wild Life Prairie Park near Farming-ton. Mr. Rutherford, who owned the park, was my corporate attorney from Peoria, and had invited me there to see his park. At one time, Mr. Rutherford was Illinois State Conservation Director. Since I was young, I always knew his love for birds and wildlife. As we talked, he told me that the Midwestern area is going to be the most sought after place to live. It's idealistic. At his park, conservationists explained to students visiting that the law of nature is necessary. Anytime man tries to eliminate a breed there becomes a problem of another kind.

This weekend, as I see the turning of the leaves, the ducks on ponds and wetland, the horses and the cattle in the fields, the harvest from our crops, and families enjoying nature in so many ways together, I realized that my father was right.

The best place to live is right here, and there is no place quite like the Midwest with its turning of the seasons, and it's promises of something new four times a year.

The greatest places are sometimes, the things that are the closest to us.