No One Gets You Like the People Back Home

Two decades ago, I flamed out of New York City and came crawling back to Illinois

Photo: Paweł Pająk/Flickr

My cousin Denny, the only son of my mom’s brother Ron, is six months older than me. We grew up together in Mattoon, Illinois, and I think it’s fair to say there is no one on this planet I have known longer (other than my parents). We used to spend whole weeks…