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Saturday, March 26, 2011

the one where I visit Milwaukee . . Part I

Three years ago, I tearfully jerked my way onto a Wisconsin interstate in Brandon's manual transmission sports car and sobbed my way to the Illinois line, where I determined that I couldn't possibly cry any more because. . .

. . .  Traffic was terrible and I needed to NOT stall out in Chicago. ..b/c getting horns blown at me makes me totally lose it like Dionne on the freeway.



. . . and I wasn't trying to show up all puffy-eyed and dehydrated for my first day of my new job. Nothing says 'competent hire' like some busted eye blood vessels.

. . . and with tolls scattered through Illinois and Indiana, it was too much trouble to start crying and quit crying for every one.

I was leaving a job I loved, friends who had become family and a neighborhood where I wanted to raise children.  In just two years, Milwaukee had become home.

Since we left, I've hoped we could go back, if only for a vacation - I know, I know.. vacation in Milwaukee? - so when Brandon told me that we'd be going to Chicago for a week this March, I jumped at the chance to drive an hour north.  Back home.

I knew that it would be different, because everything changes, and that, quite possibly, the changes would make me love it less.

WRONG.

2 comments:

  1. Love! Reminds me of one of my fav quotes from Waynes World:

    Pete: Hey, isn't "Milwaukee" an Indian name?
    Alice Cooper: Yes, Pete, it is. In fact , it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land."

    I feel the same way about the 3 months I lived in Tirana, Albania. I can always say I lived in Paris, but the few friends I was able to make in Paris (turns out a super duper anti-social embassy, inspite of its ginormous size), could never top the friends I still have today from Albania. We briefly visited for vacay 2 yrs ago, and it felt so oddly familiar and comforting. Doesn't matter how swanky the locale, if it doesn't have a sense of community and friendship it's never going seize a piece of your heart.

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  2. I hope you had a great time! We were just in Chicago and had a blast with friends.

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