12/02/2025
Dear Jessi from 2011,
You’ve decided to leave Southern Illinois. You’re 21, so of course you know everything, but you’re about to get the culture shock of your life moving out of your sleepy hometown. Go! You’ll learn so many things. See new perspectives. Make new friends, start a new life.
Then one day when you’re 29, you’ll realize that dull ache for home is more than homesickness. You’ll feel an undeniable pull. Where you saw Southern Illinois as a place that broke you before, you’ll look to it as a place to return changed, with different perspective. It will be one of the biggest leaps of faith, but the greatest you’ll make. Go!
You’ll quickly be rewarded for this faith with a wonderful husband. The two of you will complete your family of 4 in no time, and together you’ll view Southern Illinois through the eyes of your children, with hopes for their future, and memories of your past. You’ll make amazing friends, colleagues, & incredible opportunities. You’ll host events, create a business, and spend time with your aging family.
You’ll return to find Southern Illinois changed from 2011 to 2020. Revitalization projects, a focus on tourism, ever shifting local businesses, new blood in old spots…they will change everything about the area.
You’ll find yourself learning about spots that were always there, just outside your town. Attending town events with your children, finally understanding the work that goes into them, you find a new appreciation for your small town. You got this.
Also don’t cut off your hair in 2015, you just really need therapy.
- Jessi 2025
✨ If you’ve moved away and you hear Southern Illinois calling you back…answer it. It’s time to come home ❤️
