Snowy Wisconsin

After a month of neglecting our blog and nearly three and a half weeks of traveling, I’m sitting at the computer, trying to decide on what merits an inclusion in a blog post. I’m not really sure; I could talk about the highlights of our trip, which took us to Macedonia (Ohio), Mars (Pennsylvania), Houghton, Fredonia, and Panama (NY). I wish some of you would be fooled into thinking we visit exotic spots on our vacation, but that would be a little less than true. While we loved all the places we visited, not too many people would include them in the ‘exotic’ category. For us, they fall into the category of home – and yet, as we grow older and more independent – they aren’t entirely home. They are the places where our families live, and in a sense, that makes them part of our home. We love going back and visiting and sharing time together, don’t get me wrong. But really, home is beginning to really be where Dan and I live. Last year that was Belfast. This year it is Wisconsin. It’s nice to be (sort of) settled, as we are right now. I guess I’m a little surprised that what was lonely Wisconsin has turned into our home, at least for this year, but it has. And it’s nice to be back. Since we saw most of our readers over Christmas break, I won’t fill you in on the ins and outs of our trip this time. Maybe another day.

When we arrived here – home – there were a few inches of snow on the ground, and it was light out for at least 15 more minutes, compared to when we left. That was a nice change! I like sunshine. However, the next morning, when we finally dragged ourselves out of bed, it had snowed about 3 inches, and continued snowing throughout the day! The snow continued through today. I’m not sure of the exact number of inches we have outside because of the drifting, but I will take a gander and guess that there are about 16 inches of snow on the ground. (Is it are or is? My grammar class is failing me right now.) I’m glad we put our snow tires on the Subaru. Our maintenance men, who also happen to plow our driveway, like to plow us in, as opposed to out. Dan had to shovel our driveway today after they pushed a big pile and left it right in our way. We don’t really understand this.

Anyways, we’re gearing up for next semester, which starts on Monday. We both have evening classes Monday through Thursday, which will obviously limit the amount of time we have together. We’ve designated Fridays as our date night, which we kicked off yesterday by watching Marley and Me at the Showboat Movie Theater, complements of the college. It was the perfect date night movie – no bloody shooting scenes, no awkward “comedic” moments, no awful language. Although I did shed a few tears, I loved it. It was a nice family-type movie, a good end to the season of family visits, and a touching portrait of a couple who sticks through thick and thin.