"Who says you can't go home?"

I have lived in Utah for 7.5 years now.  But ask me about my visit to the Midwest and I'll tell you about my trip home.  I've lived on the East Coast, the West Coast and now in the Mountains, but I am definitely a Midwest girl.  Born in Michigan and raised in Indiana, so my heart will always be tied to the Midwest.  I usually try to make a trip home every two years or less.  This Fall when I visited, it had been three years since my last trip out there.  When I travel I love to send postcards.  For the past year whenever I sent one to my Great Uncle Charles he would email and ask me when I was coming to visit him.  So I knew 2013 had to be the year that I went back.  And then the "Save the Date" card arrived for Katie B's wedding.  For years I have considered Katie B to be my second Katie sister, so there was no way I was going to miss the wedding.  Now I had the timing for my trip figured out.  I just had to make it happen.

After lots of back and forth it was decided that Mom and Katie would fly to Louisville a week ahead of the wedding to visit family and friends.  They borrowed Uncle Charles' car and drove up to Indiana and then on to Michigan for the wedding.  I flew into Grand Rapids the day before the wedding and would eventually drive the car back to Louisville.  For the first in my adult years (that I can remember) I was greeted inside the airport.  As I walked toward baggage claim there was Mom and Katie and with them was Macky.  It was such a great way to start the trip. 

The three of us were staying with Macky.  Every time I talked to her over the summer she insisted that we would stay with her.  I would never argue with Macky, plus I love visiting with her.  She's been my other grandmother since I was a toddler and her daughter Nan moved in next door to us in Michigan.  According to the story, I was out playing in my little red buggy and Macky saw me.  She thought I was so cute that she just had to come over to meet me.  Mom and Nan became best friends and our families have been close ever since. Even after we moved to Indiana we still did plenty of trips and visits with our Michigan family.  When we were little kids the two families used to meet up in Chicago before Christmas to see the lights and visit Santa at Marshall Fields.  I would have described Katie B as a daddy's girl, except for when I showed up.  I have adored Nan since I was a little girl.  I have a memory of sitting in our front yard watching for Nan to come home from work.  Then I would take my dinner over in a lunch box and have dinner with her and Steve.  So when our families got together I would always head straight to Nan.  Which didn't make Katie B very happy when we were younger.  I remember the day my mom finally turned me around and said, "Do you see that footprint on Nancye's butt?  That's because I used to kick her out the door to your mom's each evening.  So she is kind of your mother's daughter."  After that I had another sister named Katie.

It was a fun weekend of laughter, friends, food, memories and a perfect wedding.  The ceremony was lovely and Katie B looked stunning.  Hard to believe that is the little girl we watched grow up.  I finally met her husband Cory and believe they will be very happy together.  I look forward to future visits when I can get to know him better.

Me, Mom and Katie before the wedding.

Nan and Katie B

Mom, Me, Macky, Nan, Katie

It would not be a visit to Michigan without a stop at Lake Michigan.  On my last night I ran down to the beach just before sunset.  Since it was a cloudy evening I was not expecting much in the way of color.  For awhile it looked like I was right.  But since I was enjoying the waves and the sand I did not rush off.  Thank goodness I waited.  The sunset that I received was one of the most breathtaking ever.  I feel truly blessed to have witnessed this beauty.

Lake Michigan sunset

The hardest part of these trips is saying goodbye before I move on to the next stop.  I held off as long as I could, but eventually I had to promise Macky I would come back soon and then drove off to Indiana.  This trip was similar to my 2010 visit minus the Chicago portion.  I started in Michigan, worked my way down to South Bend and Elkhart before continuing South.  This time I stopped at Notre Dame to see my friend Kara over lunch.  Before I left I stopped by the Women's Basketball offices and was fortunate to catch Beth Morgan Cunningham before she left for practice.  It was great to see her for a few minutes.  At some point I'll need to see her coach a game to go with the fact that  I have seen her at every level of her basketball career.  And it would not be a Northern Indiana stop without my time in Elkhart with the Facklemans.  It is never long enough, but at least I get a chance to catch up.  It sounds like they enjoyed Southern Utah on their roadtrip to California this summer.  So hopefully I can talk them into visiting me soon.

Macky and Honey

Stopped at Notre Dame to visit friends

Indiana Sunrise on the way to Btown

Next stop, home to Bloomington!  I love trips home to Btown.  No matter how much has changed, it is still so familiar.  There is always so much to do when I get there, which means I miss something or someone.  I think this trip came pretty close to getting it all done.  I spent a lot of time with my dad (not sure he agrees).  The highlight of our time together should have been the IU Soccer game, but sadly they lost in OT.  I'm still glad I got to see the game, I always try to time my visits for the Fall so I can see a match.  I practically grew up at the IU soccer field.  I spent almost as much time there as I did at the fields where my teams played.  Each Fall I get phone calls from dad after home games letting me know the score and how the team played that day.  It is something I look forward to each season.  On my recent trips home I have been staying in our old neighborhood with our neighbors, the Varns.  They used to live across the street from us when we were in high school and in the evenings we would play out in the yard with their two little boys.  I always thought it was funny that they knew all our friends' cars, so they always knew who was around the house even if Mom was not there.  Tom and Anne were not afraid to say something to us, so there was very little chance we would have gotten into trouble with them keeping an eye on us. Anne also shares my love of IU soccer.  So what I do not hear from Dad, I hear from her.  Three years ago on my trip home I got to see their oldest son, Dan, play soccer for North High School as a senior.  This trip home I got to see his brother Andrew play as a senior for North in the game against South.  I am proud as a North alumni to say that North beat them with PK's.  (Excuse me, I must rant for a moment.  I do not understand why high school athletes are playing two overtimes and going into PK's on a school night.  Call it a tie and send those kids home to do their homework.  Also, why do they play a 40 minute half instead of a 45 minute half?  Maybe those extra 10 minutes would prevent the need for overtimes.  Okay, rant over.)    After watching Andrew play, and make his PK, I am convinced he will score a goal from the field this season, even though he plays defense.  He has quite a kick. 

Andrew's Senior year (North v South)

 Of course I could not forget to make time for the family in Louisville.  Especially after all of those guilt trips from Uncle Charles.  Which I actually enjoy getting because I love his emails.  He is getting better at the guilt over time.  Right before I left for Alaska this summer Uncle Charles fell and hit his head.  The doctors apparently were not sure what to do with him.  From what I heard, most 95 year old people would not have survived hitting their head.  When I got to Louisville in September he was still in the rehabilitation center, but getting closer to going home.  My Uncle Richard told me that they said that he could go home on Friday the 13th.  So he asked his dad if he would not prefer to wait until the 14th.  Uncle Charles was quick to respond, "How about the 12th?"  (It would turn out that he would get to go home on the 12th.)  Most of my time in Louisville was spent at the center visiting with Uncle Charles.  While I was there I got to see my Aunt Barbara and her husband Paul and my Uncle Richard.  Turns out that my other uncles left town the weekend I came through.  And I didn't have much luck meeting up with my cousins, but that was partially my fault.  My priority for this trip was Uncle Charles.  I hope I'm just like him when I'm 95.  Until this fall he was driving to the family business and working for a couple hours before driving home.  Nothing stops him.

Uncle Richard, Aunt Barbara, Me

Me and my 95 yr old Great Uncle Charles (I made him laugh by telling him to say, "Going home!")

Growing up in Bloomington, I attended St. Charles Elementary which was a small Catholic school.  I think the most students they had during those years K-6th was approximately 200.  My class was never bigger than 21 students.  Despite the small size I have made many lasting friendships from this school.  These include other students, teachers and families.  At one point during my years in Utah there were 5 of us from St. Charles living in the Park City/Salt Lake area.  Currently, there are 3 of us.  In fact, one of my best friends from my class now lives 2 miles away from me.  Last summer I was fortunate to attend the wedding of my "big brother" Jake whom I had met in 1st grade.  Our families did everything together growing up, birthdays, super bowls, graduations.  You name it and our families probably celebrated together.  It was wonderful to be there to see him get married.  And on this trip I would have a couple hours to catch up with the Schraders.  Their whole family is like having two more parents and three more siblings.  I love whatever time I can get with them.  This summer when I did my trip to Alaska, my trip leader was another of my St. Charles classmates, although David was two years ahead of me.  My mom drove morning carpool and David's mom picked us up.  After all these years I still think of David like a big brother.  When I arrived in Bloomington for this visit I had promised myself that I was going to spend an afternoon catching up with Madonna who had been my 6th grade teacher and Heidi who had been another one of my best friends since 1st grade.  (We won't count how many years that equals.)  I drove into town and headed straight for Madonna's house.  We had a fabulous afternoon spending quality time chatting over lunch, walking around downtown and just generally catching up on things.  Hopefully I have convinced her to give the mountains another try and to come visit me.  A definite highlight of my trip was the opportunity to see Heidi, her husband Matt, and to finally meet her twin boys.  They were already a 1 1/2 by the time I got to town.  I must admit, I am in love with those boys.  They are a riot and happy little guys.  We had a blast playing at the park.  My last morning in town I walked over with the Varns' dog Ruby to meet them and play a bit before I had to leave.  They thought having Ruby there was great fun.  It was hard to say good bye.  I hope that I will get them out west soon.  The boys will be ready for skis before you know it.

 

Heidi, Gates and Hunter at the Park

 All in all it was a fabulous trip to the Midwest.  I am definitely going to work harder to make sure that the next time it does not take me three years to get there.  I love that I have all of these amazing people in my life and some great memories from growing up in Michigan and Indiana.  I love living in the mountains (and I am not sure I could survive humidity anymore) but in my heart I am definitely a Midwest girl.