Growing up in Nebraska was a pretty great experience for most of us. We had wide-open spaces to roam, safe streets to play in, and neighbors who watched out for us. That kind of upbringing leaves a mark on you, and if you grew up here (or have at least been here quite a while), you’ll find these things are true.
- Some of your earliest memories are of playing (and maybe getting lost) in a cornfield.
flickr/Beth Rankin There was always that brief moment of terror when you were totally sure that you were going to die out there.
- You’ve kept in touch with just about everyone from your graduating class.
flickr/Ali Eminov …Because your class was so small that you knew every one of their names and you all still live within a few miles of each other.
- You’ve been in multiple parades, sometimes for no reason other than you knew a guy who was hauling a trailer behind his tractor.
flickr/Ali Eminov And that tractor was in the parade because…it was a tractor?
- You can drive pretty much any vehicle in any conditions, no problem.
flickr/srgpicker That’s because you learned how to drive on a tractor while you were still in diapers. When you graduated to a car or truck, you had to navigate gravel roads, blizzards, downpours, and black ice. So, yeah, you’ve got this driving thing down.
- You know the meaning of hard work because your first job was detasseling corn or walking beans.
flickr/la fattina If you lived in town, your parents arranged to have you driven out to a field to work in the summer. And if you were really lucky, you even got paid for it.
- Getting stuck behind a slow tractor on the road doesn’t even faze you.
flickr/Andrew Iverson It just gives you a little more time to enjoy your surroundings as you head off to work or wherever.
- You’ve hit at least one deer with your car and now you’re hyper-vigilant about watching the sides of the road.
flickr/Alex O’Neal Was that the glint of a deer eye over there? Did I see that grass move? Why are these trees so close to the road? That’s the perfect hiding spot for suicidal deer!
- You hear someone calling their hometown of 10,000 people a “small town” and laugh right in their face.
flickr/ydylg And then you proudly tell them about growing up in your hometown of 56 people.
- You’re no more than six degrees of separation from basically anyone in the state.
flickr/One Day Closer It’s annoying when you tell someone you’re from Nebraska and they ask you if you know so-and-so from the other side of the state. It’s even more annoying when you realize that that person happens to be the cousin of a friend of a coworker.
- Home will always taste like Runzas, Dorothy Lynch, Valentino’s pizza, and red hot dogs.
flickr/germanny If you’ve moved away, you’ve probably got a tear in your eye right now remembering all of those delicious tastes.
- You know what “GBR” means.
flickr/UNL Today And you know exactly how to respond when someone yells it at you.
- You don’t think it’s weird to see a running, unoccupied car in front of a store.
flickr/Mike Mozart It’s fine, they’re just going in for a minute.
- The finger wave is a thing you just do automatically.
flickr/Dornorozeto You don’t even think about it anymore. When you see someone on a country road, you lift one, two, or three fingers (depending on who it is and how friendly you’re feeling) from the steering wheel.
- You’ll defend Nebraska to the death.
flickr/Dawn in Nebraska We can poke fun at our home state or complain about its quirks. You are not allowed to do that if you aren’t from here.
Growing up in the Cornhusker State really does shape your whole life. Do you have anything to add to the list? Leave a comment!
flickr/Beth Rankin
There was always that brief moment of terror when you were totally sure that you were going to die out there.
flickr/Ali Eminov
…Because your class was so small that you knew every one of their names and you all still live within a few miles of each other.
And that tractor was in the parade because…it was a tractor?
flickr/srgpicker
That’s because you learned how to drive on a tractor while you were still in diapers. When you graduated to a car or truck, you had to navigate gravel roads, blizzards, downpours, and black ice. So, yeah, you’ve got this driving thing down.
flickr/la fattina
If you lived in town, your parents arranged to have you driven out to a field to work in the summer. And if you were really lucky, you even got paid for it.
flickr/Andrew Iverson
It just gives you a little more time to enjoy your surroundings as you head off to work or wherever.
flickr/Alex O’Neal
Was that the glint of a deer eye over there? Did I see that grass move? Why are these trees so close to the road? That’s the perfect hiding spot for suicidal deer!
flickr/ydylg
And then you proudly tell them about growing up in your hometown of 56 people.
flickr/One Day Closer
It’s annoying when you tell someone you’re from Nebraska and they ask you if you know so-and-so from the other side of the state. It’s even more annoying when you realize that that person happens to be the cousin of a friend of a coworker.
flickr/germanny
If you’ve moved away, you’ve probably got a tear in your eye right now remembering all of those delicious tastes.
flickr/UNL Today
And you know exactly how to respond when someone yells it at you.
flickr/Mike Mozart
It’s fine, they’re just going in for a minute.
flickr/Dornorozeto
You don’t even think about it anymore. When you see someone on a country road, you lift one, two, or three fingers (depending on who it is and how friendly you’re feeling) from the steering wheel.
flickr/Dawn in Nebraska
We can poke fun at our home state or complain about its quirks. You are not allowed to do that if you aren’t from here.
If you went to high school in a small Nebraska town, these 12 things will probably sound familiar, too.
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Address: Nebraska, USA
