Congratulations, Midland!

I was just reading a news item about the Grace A. Dow Library (it was certainly a great library when I lived there --I wish it hadn't been closed when we drove by last summer-- though it's odd that I remember it being somewhere else nearby), but at the end of the article they had to explain a little about Midland:

Midland is a city of nearly 42,000 people and is the international headquarters to The Dow Chemical Company and Dow Corning Corporation. According to the October 2010 edition of Forbes Magazine, Midland is considered to be the fourth-best area in the U.S. to raise a family.

Fourth-best? I don't see how it could get much better. Unless you get rid of the muggy summer days (though I guess most everybody has A/C these days -- we don't in Seattle but it's rare that we even want it) and February. Still, this echoes what my MHS classmates said at the reunion. And it's FAR better for raising a family than anyplace I've lived since. Bested by Marquette, Manitowoc, and Dubuque in this rating, but I'd take Midland hands-down.

Looking at the article's photos, I remember downtown Midland looking like Warsaw, Ind.

There are some things I like about living on the West Coast, but I still miss the Midwest.