I just returned from a long weekend trip back to the midwest. The main purpose of the trip was to meet my brother in law in Green Bay and watch the Packers beat the everliving pis...err, I mean play, the Broncos. It has become a tradition with he and I that every four years, when the Packers and Broncos play, one of us will travel to see the other one and we go watch the game. This year, it was in Green Bay, so he got a couple of tickets, and I flew out to watch the game. Usually, the Broncos lose (and this year was the epitome of ugly loss), but my BIL is an awesome dude and we always have a great time hanging together and watching our teams beat on each other. This year was no exception. I could write a book about everything going through my head regarding this trip, but I'll try to keep to 5 minutes or less.
While planning for my trip to the game, it occurred to me that I was going to be fairly close to my home town of Morris Illinois. My family lived in Morris from my kindergarten through 7th grade, and I don't think I've been back there since I swung through in college. I wasn't sure what I would do, but just to explore my old stomping ground sounded like a blast.
I had a friend in elementary school named Jessica (she has since moved to one of the Chicago suburbs). The town was only 8900 people back then, so most everyone knew everyone else, and we certainly knew each other and had many common friends, but I don't think we ever really hung out together or anything like that. I've gotten reacquainted with her on Facebook over the past year, though, and I always thought we'd get along really well if we ever met again face to face. Turns out she was available for breakfast, and she ended up being my chauffeur for the day. I wasn't sure if she would be as excited as I was to see where we grew up, but she at least indulged me as we drove around and remembered the old sites and looked at the newer ones. After the grand tour of Morris, we went back to an Irish pub that she and her husband own and had a couple of drinks with her husband and some of her friends. It can be really awkward to spend a lot of time with someone who you don't know all that well, but this was far from that, and we had a great time remembering people and talking about old times and new life happenings. Thanks Jess!
Another acquaintance from elementary school is Jeff. Jeff used to play little league baseball with me and was a very good athlete. Again, I don't think we ever hung out much outside of school either, but I've gotten to know him on Facebook as well over the past year. Jeff has one of the most sarcastic but great senses of humor of any of my friends, and it was a lot of fun getting to talk to him in person and meet his kids and wife (who just happens to be the daughter of one of my most remembered elementary school teachers). Jeff has been involved in Morris politics for awhile and seemed to know just about everyone in town. As we walked up and down Main street, he would shake hands with someone and say hi, then tell Jess and me who it was, and very often we knew the person or the family. It amazed me how many people from back then were still around. Anyway, Jeff was an invaluable tour guide and knew about pretty much everything that had happened in Morris since I'd left. He has an awesome family, and I'm thankful I could get caught up with him.
It just so happened that Corn Festival was going on this weekend. Corn Fest is a long weekend (maybe even almost a full week now) with all kinds of games and activities and tours and tractors and parades and petting zoos and carnivals and fireworks. It was probably the biggest thing in Morris when I was a kid and I had always wanted to go to it again. By completely random dumb luck, I learned that it was going on this weekend, so it worked out great to get to actually hang around downtown Morris while everything was abuzz and see so many people that I hadn't thought about in about 30 years. I'd love to take my family to it some year and introduce them to some of my old childhood buddies.
The things that stuck out in my mind were that I remembered lots of places in Morris, but I never knew until this weekend how they all connected with each other. The town isn't that big, and most of these places were connected to each other and not miles apart like I remembered them as a child. I saw my old house. The current residents (I don't know them) have done a lot of work on landscaping, and the yard and house look amazing. As a kid, we had the best sledding hill in the neighborhood. After living in Colorado, this "hill" looked barely long enough to do anything with, but I remember back in the day, all the neighbor kids would come by and we'd spend hours seeing how far we could go (far enough took us into the street...that's when you knew you were hardcore). My pediatrician's name was Dr. Cumba. He still had the same office I remember (although it very well could be his grandson running the practice now).
My old house:
The high school was there. I never attended it, but I remember fondly the football games and "the woods" behind the visitors bench. Since my mom reads this blog, I think I will just leave those memories tucked away in my own head for now. ;) The middle school I went to was still there. Sadly, my elementary school was demolished and replaced with another city building. The ball fields where I played little league were still there. It really was an amazing experience to see all this stuff again, and I really do hope to bring my family there some day to actually get to see it themselves.
A couple of funny things I saw there included an out of order bait vending machine:
And this sign...fortunately I did not need my colon painted this day:
While in the area, I spent the night with my friends Mike and Laura. I know them from a fitness website I used to be very active on called
Clutch Fitness. They are definitely one of the nicest couples I know, and I was lucky enough to get to meet their 3 month old son Mason. Seeing them in 3 month mommy and daddy mode was very fun to watch. Mason was hungry often, slept sometimes well, sometimes not so much, and was always very smiley if you made faces ar smiled at him. Mike and Laura had their routine down of who took care of Mason while the other got a break. They are going to continue to be great parents and are well on there way to raising a great, smiley kid.
The football game itself was painful to watch. Lambeau Field has a mystique and history to it that make it a very cool place to visit, and I can definitely appreciate that. Just once, I'd love for my team to actually compete with them there. The Broncos got beat so badly, though, that most of the Packer fans were very nice to me in an "I'm sorry your team sucks so bad" kind of way. But spending the time with my brother in law and his friend Steve was still a lot of fun.
I spent a lot of my time this weekend with people that I hardly knew face to face, but I loved every minute of the time I got to spend with them. I've really gotten the itch to go visit other friends all over the country, but that will probably have to wait for awhile. In the meantime, I am planning to make some phone calls and at least get caught up through a conversation than through Facebook statuses. To Jeff, Jess, Mike, Laura, Jamie and Steve...thanks for a great weekend, and I hope to see you all again soon.
