My parents met on a blind date.

Both grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. Both came from Catholic families, and they also attended Catholic school for grade school and high school.

My mom came from a family with six children, two girls and four boys. She is the second youngest child in her family.

My dad came from a family with four children, two boys and two girls. His brother Larry passed away very young. Dad was the oldest child in his family.

When my dad finished college, my parents moved to Chicago because dad got a job there, and that's where Megan and I were born. My parents made a big move by choosing to move their family away from St. Paul, the family hometown.

If you've ever listened to the "Prairie Home Companion" radio show and you are not from Minnesota, you probably don't find it entertaining. You likely feel alienated, although you may not know why. The humor, the jokes, and the stories are all Minnesota "personal" jokes. Only insiders understand what the true meaning of this show. This feeling of alienation you get if you are not from Minnesota is very like how my parents felt to return home after seven years. Our family had grown up away from their families. We were different.

Leaving the family to move out of town was unheard of. Family, to the Ashtons and the Finleys, meant that you stayed together, at least in proximity, forever. I know that some of my grandparents traveled a long way to find a home in St. Paul. Perhaps that is why it was so important for their children and grandchildren to make a home there.

All of my thirty or so cousins, except for one, live in Minnesota. My aunts and uncles all live there, many in the same homes they raised their children in. Sometimes when I go home, it feels like things are frozen in time. Everyone talks the same, about the same things, and maybe they even think the same way, for years and years and years.

My parents' courage to find a path away from their families meant that the road was difficult and filled with loneliness and ever-changing definitions of what it means to be a family.

I think my parents wanted to have an adventure, to try something new. They found their new life to be unpredictable and lonely at worst, exciting and adventurous at best.

I listen to "Prairie Home Companion" because I find the predictability comforting. But I think I have inherited the sense that Minnesota is there when I want to tap into it. I don't need to live in that comfort zone every day of my life. I want to find myself in new and sometimes frightening situations that remind me of my essence and my ability to adapt.

Just think about going on a blind date.

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