Our stories don’t happen in a vacuum. Our lives are not solely our own, but rather they are shaped by those who have come and gone before us. From ancestors who traveled from foreign homelands in search of new hopes and dreams, to people we have never met whose lives and legacy allow us to live as we do today.

I’m not sure if it is generally Midwestern or specifically Minnesotan, but “That’s different” is a common response to something one deems a little ‘off’ or strange; the phrase can also be used as an ambivalent comment on something that one doesn’t actually like—often reserved for new haircuts and style choices. Rather than offending and saying one dislikes something, one might say “well, that’s different.”

“He’s so verbal” was the first remark my son’s new teacher said when she introduced herself.