It’s an attitude bred out of necessity because people here need each other to survive.
Crippling blizzards can bear down with little warning, while warmer months beckon the deadly gusts that roar through the Midwest’s “Tornado Alley,” with Omaha smack in the middle. Nebraska averages fifty-seven tornadoes yearly, the most deadly to hit Omaha on Easter Sunday of 1913. With a lethal, quarter-mile girth, it cut a diagonal path through the city, flattening entire neighborhoods, injuring over 350 people and killing 103. The twister ripped open gas lines, igniting the rubble, but citizens toiled through the night to rescue neighbors trapped beneath their collapsed homes.
Despite their own injuries, Omaha’s switchboard operators worked in blood-drenched dresses to keep the city’s communication lines open so others could survive. The altruistic grit displayed a century ago shaped an attitude of helpfulness that still prevails.
While its natural disasters are remarkable, Omahaians would rather talk about the city’s notable contributions. Omaha is the birthplace of thirty-eighth president Gerald Ford, civil rights activist Ma-colm X, and the TV dinner—the frozen single-serving suppers in aluminum trays created by Swanson in 1954. It’s also movie star dancer Fred Astaire’s hometown, and the place where Johnny Carson launched his broadcasting career in 1950.
The city’s number one tourist attraction, the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, covers 130 acres, is home to 962 species, and was crowned “the best zoo in the world,” by reviewers of a leading travel website.
Omaha may stand alone as a city, but as a region, its “metropolitan statistical area” includes Council Bluffs. While the Missouri River separates Nebraska from Iowa, Omaha and Council Bluffs are linked by bridges. The two cities have little in common other than capricious weather and incredible sunsets, burning brilliant shades of crimson in the endless sky. Council Bluffs, founded in 1804, a half century before Omaha, is much smaller and home to 62,316 people versus Omaha’s 466,893.
A Council Bluffs–born resident who now makes her home in Omaha, notes that while both cities have “hardworking people willing to help their neighbor,” an unspoken feud exists between them, running deeper than their obvious choices for football teams. (Omaha roots for the Huskers, of course, while Council Bluffs cheers for the Hawkeyes.) Cross the river and political views shift—as do speed limits, slightly higher in Nebraska. Median income is higher in Omaha, but so are taxes and the cost of housing! The median value of homes in Council Bluffs is about 25 percent lower than its counterpart.
Apartments in Council Bluffs might have been cheaper, but Dave chose to live in Omaha to avoid long commutes to work. He rented a place in a huge complex with over a dozen brick buildings, each holding three floors of apartments. The grounds had a park-like feel with lots of grassy spaces and big shade trees. It was affordable, close to his work, and he knew his kids would like the clubhouse and swimming pool. It was fun when they visited, but most of the time it was too quiet.
As Dave settled into his new place, it was summertime, uncomfortably warm with temperatures creeping into the nineties, and his apartment was a stifling and lonely place. “I’d work all day, then see my kids, and then there was nothing else to do. I was lonely at first because I didn’t know anybody. The people I did know around here were all Amy’s friends.” He decided to check out some online dating sites and discovered Plenty of Fish. It was free to create a profile and sign up for a basic membership. He figured there was nothing to lose, so he typed in the requested information and was soon scrolling through photos of dozens of attractive females who lived in the area.
Before long, Dave was chatting online with Liz, a lady about his age, and they made a date to meet in person. She was the first woman he met online. Attractive with dark hair almost to her shoulders, Liz had a nice figure. She was slender but large breasted, and he was a little bit intimidated by her when they met at the agreed-upon place, Perkins, a twenty-four-hour restaurant, in Omaha.
“I was nervous,” he admits. “I was fresh out of the thing with Amy, and I didn’t even know how to date at that point. I was out of the groove.” Dave had been only 22 the last time he was single. Just a kid. Nearly everyone else in his age group had also been unattached, and there were