A few days ago, while getting ready for work, I noticed something my family members call the “license plate” sunrise.
Let me explain.
In 2004 our family moved to Nebraska. It meant getting Nebraska license plates for our cars. Our children didn’t complain at all about having to move 3 states away, but they did insist we get alternate plates for our cars. They were unwilling to be seen in a car with “those plates.”
True story, I’m not joking. My children deemed the Nebraska license plate too ugly for our cars at the ages of nine, seven, and five. Sue and I agreed the plates were ugly and went along with this request.
We wondered what made an entire state go along with this design. Many Nebraskans agreed with us, but most of them gave us a funny look when we told our story or joked about the plates. I found the image above at a site for “the worst looking license plate.”
But locals loved it. I found I was in a “Maryland flag situation.” (Go check out the Maryland flag and they go talk to somebody from Maryland about it, and you will see what I mean).
Then I lived in Nebraska. I saw some sunrises and some sunsets. I’m not the type of person who sits around looking at the sun rising or the sun setting. My commute is from east to west in the morning and west to east in the evening, so not conducive to seeing the rising and setting of the sun. But over time, it is hard to avoid. When you get out in Nebraska’s open country, and you get a chance to see the sun rising or setting, you notice the beauty of them. When our son, Mike, moved to Tennessee, he commented it was one of the things he missed about Nebraska.
Wow.
No wonder the natives loved their plates. It reminded them of one of the best things about where they grew up.
Getting the facts and experiencing life in Nebraska gave me the chance to understand. Makes a person wonder how often I’ve made a judgment from a position of ignorance.
Who knows, maybe someday I will understand why Marylanders want to put their flag on everything.