While away from home I go through times where I feel very nostalgic.  I have told you before I’m from Stroud Oklahoma.  To an outsider Stroud is no different than any other small town.  Anyone from Stroud will tell you we’re special.  Nearly always those reasons that make Stroud special are what drive people away.  Stroud produces some of the finest Americans anywhere.  Stroud has base families that have been around for generations. These families produce clean cut, all American children who grow up with good work ethic, small town values and a solid education.  These kids move away to continue their education and find careers.  After this happens they only come home for the holidays.  Oh, if you talk to these people Stroud is the center of the known universe.  Likely you can find someone from Stroud in every major city in America and they would have something good to say about their home.  The flip side to this is that all these great people leave; taking their education, skill and ingenuity away.  They say Stroud isn’t the same as it used to be and that “sure is sad”.  A year and a half ago I chose to come home, I didn’t have to.  I wanted to come home to the place I know and love.  A very common reaction I received was a head tilt and a voice in an apologetic tone insinuating that I had somehow failed because I had returned home.  I have a very good career in the military.  I’m good at my job and the army pays better than 90% of the jobs in Stroud, including some of our fine professionals such as teachers.   I had just spent three tours in the middle-east and recently had a baby girl. I wanted her to get to know me and her family back home.  I feel that I was viewed as a failure because I chose to bring myself home.  I think if more people made the same decision I did then Stroud probably wouldn’t be in the sad shape it is now.  Who failed?