thinking

i don't think anyone i know reads this anymore - i actually forgot about this blog entirely, until i read kali's post and the setup looked so familiar. she writes about vulnerability and having the courage to pursue a dream, even if that dream isn't fully figured out.

doug and i are jumping into a dream soon that is most definitely not fully figured out. i have spent a good eight hours in our new city and doug has spent none. we head to milwaukee, wisconsin at the end of the month. we leave eugene, oregon and many wonderful places and people on the west coast. as much as i love the massive cedars, peeling madrones, epic mountains, alternative, hippy, hipster foodies, and timber towns of the pacific northwest, it feels okay to go. i'm not even sad. i bet i will be when we start driving, but not just yet. sadness will come, but only later, in the form of nostalgia. and nostalgia is one of my favorite emotions - remembering the past in this deep way, recalling yourself like a now distant friend.

so this dream of milwaukee is not fully formed. but what attracts me about this midwest future is many fold. First of all, i'm going to be doing meaningful work that gets me excited. I'll be working for University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute as an environmental economist/sociologist. My primary duties are extension and applied research to assist Great Lakes communities deal with challenges. These challenges are endless, as are the solutions: climate change adaptation, managing the Great Lakes to ensure sufficient water quantity and robust water quality, and sustainable development.

Second Doug and I are getting closer to home. I'm excited to be able to get in my car and be in Columbus for the holidays on a whim. To take the high speed ferry across Lake Michigan and visit with my wonderful friends from Ohio: Melissa, Emily, Stacy, Lauren, Laura, and others. To see Connie in Chicago. And to explore a totally new place. I'm looking forward to kayaking in the boundary waters, checking out the forests of northern Wisconsin, and canoe backpacking in the Upper Peninsula. I've heard there are lots of dog parks in Milwaukee, as well as enough rad people to form a new community.  

I'm obsessed by the idea of sense of place. What does it mean to be somewhere where you are home?