It’s been a glorious last couple days here in Madison. Yesterday, my car thermometer said it was 87 degrees. A nearby bank said 85. I don’t think we hit 90 degrees all last summer, so for it to be in the mid-80s on April 1st…it seems like a crazy joke. A crazy, wonderful joke. I’ve got to get all my summer clothes up from the basement. I just discovered that I don’t have any short-sleeved shirts in my closet.
And today is supposed to be just as lovely.
I woke up early this morning. Probably because I fell asleep at 8:30 while listening to a podcast on the couch. Bryan came home from his frisbee game and found me snoring away (I have a cold:) We were really active yesterday: bike riding, playground playing, warm-weather-worshiping! All that sunshine and exercise wore me out!
As I lay in bed early this morning listening to the birds singing their little brains out, I was thinking back to the first weekend in April, 2000 – a whole decade ago. Bryan and I had been married less than a year, and he was a month away from finishing his senior year at Carleton. I was working for the Off-Campus Studies Office. We had no cats, no pets, no kids. And we lived in a wonderful apartment above the Rare Pair in Northfield. Due to our lack of pets, I played Petz on the computer somewhat compulsively.
I had applied to environmental studies graduate schools around the country, and on that first weekend in April, Bryan and I hopped on a plane from Minneapolis and flew to Michigan to check out our new home: Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. It was an exciting weekend, and parts of it are still so vivid in my mind because at the time, it was so unknown and exciting and important.
We rented a car for the first time…had a marital dispute about whether we should have purchased the rental insurance…and drove from the Detroit airport to lovely Ann Arbor. I still remember what the city looked like as it appeared around the corner; how my eyes soaked in the sites as we pulled off the Interstate and drove up State Street.
We were checking out the School of Natural Resources & Environment, looking for an apartment, and hoping to find some leads for Bryan to find a computer programming job. The weather was amazing. Flowers were blooming, trees were just starting to pop tiny green leaves, and the sky was blue with wispy white clouds. I later learned that while Spring does come nice and early in Ann Arbor, the spring skies are not often sunny and blue.
Our kittens, Bowser and Spooky would be born in May 2000 (we got them in July). As Bryan and I went from one large apartment complex to the next, we contemplated what part of town we wanted to live in, how much we could afford in rent, and what life would hold for us in this new sweet town.
For us, that weekend in Ann Arbor was a first step in our path into adult-hood. Stepping out together from the comfort of our college into the excitement and fear of the unknown. Ahh, the sweet memories!
ohhhh, althea, have we known each other that long? that pic of your old apartment made me reminiscent of that dinner you made for us before we all committed to becoming the brookfield group, the placemat making adventure, watching the oscars, and general feelings of i ♥ ann arbor. and you and bryan, of course.
ohhhh, althea, have we known each other that long? that pic of your old apartment made me reminiscent of that dinner you made for us before we all committed to becoming the brookfield group, the placemat making adventure, watching the oscars, and general feelings of i ♥ ann arbor. and you and bryan, of course.
Those Ann Arbor times were pretty great. Especially when all the stress of being a student has faded into fondness.So glad we all lived in that lovely town, went to yoga, took walks, cooked good food, and generally enjoyed ourselves allll those years ago:)
Those Ann Arbor times were pretty great. Especially when all the stress of being a student has faded into fondness.So glad we all lived in that lovely town, went to yoga, took walks, cooked good food, and generally enjoyed ourselves allll those years ago:)
How funny to look back at that. I remember thinking you were so grown up then, what, having been married almost a year and making decisions about grad school (but you look so young to me now!). I explicitly decided NOT to think about it then. I did NOT talk to you about your decision almost at all. I just couldn’t fathom thinking about grad school and marriage…and then I got engaged and started grad school within a year:)
Amazing how quickly our phases of life change. What seems so foreign or distant or unattainable one year is suddenly one’s reality a couple years later. And then a decade goes by.
Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday or Wednesday! I’ve got a birthday gift for Evie!