This week marks a decade since I moved to Fargo. My move here was meant as something temporary, a step toward getting somewhere else. I was at the end of a relationship and confused about which direction my education should go.

I moved into a small, cheap (and scary at times) downtown apartment. Broadway was in the middle of its reconstruction, and young people tended to stay away. The first winter here, I read almost a book a day, slept in a room with nothing but a bed and watched Oprah on 17″ TV from an air mattress in my sparsely decorated living room. I planned my next move, where I would go and how I could find a hipper, cooler place to call home.

But somewhere along my stay here, it became my hometown.

The city grew up with me. I met my husband, reconnected with some great friends, found a career and made a home.

MANY ARE ASKING: THIS MUG IS FROM UNGLUED IN DOWNTOWN FARGO. THE PHOTO IS NOT MINE, BUT SOURCED ABOVE.