Good-bye MInnesota

July 28, 2012

Good-bye MInnesota

Half of our stuff is already sent off, the movers come Monday morning to pick up the rest of our belongings, and we have one last weekend in Minnesota before we drive ourselves off to Toronto. I'm feeling reflective today thinking about the close of one chapter in our lives - or really the end of a part of our lives.

As I see it, so far we have:
Part 1 - I am Born
Part 2 - Go Bears (off to college)
Part 3 - Boyd Goes to More School

Applying for grad school
Minnesota
California
Connecticut
Minnesota Again

We've come such a long way in the last 6 years. I remember so clearly that day in spring of 2006 when Boyd was away at the U of Minnesota History recruitment weekend. When he called to give me an update I could hear in his voice that Minnesota would be the place. He had met some good people, folks were collegial, it seemed like it would be a nice city to live in. And so, off we went across half the country to Minnesota.

Minnesota wasn't as foreign a place as it might have been for the average Californian. I had dated a guy in college who was from Minnesota and so I'd visited twice before and I always had a comforting feel about Minnesota. I remembered the long, warm evenings, the surprising presence of sandy (lake) beaches, and the beauty of "up north" along Lake Superior. I was happy to live here. That first winter, every day was the coldest day I had ever experienced. I loved the way that people came together in the winter, and lived that shared experience of the cold. I hated the way my nose-hairs froze.

Tanya at the jam wall at the State Fair.

I love exploring new places and so that first year we did a lot of going out into the city and "out state" to other parts of Minnesota. We camped, stayed at a B&B in Bayfield, WI, went to Pipestone National Monument in southwestern MN, found our favorite co-op grocery store and walked to the cheap movie theater on those long, warm, summer evenings. Our great apartment neighbors even took us to the Great Minnesota Get-Together (aka the state fair) just a few weeks after we moved in - talk about Minnesota nice!

Oysters on Thanksgiving!

We made some great friends that first year - friends that made the transition to a new state and a new part of life easy. We had weekly dinners with two other couples from Boyd's cohort each week, taking turns hosting and cooking for each other. We made friends with people in our neighborhood and walked to each others' houses for dinner and to care for one anothers' pets. I made friends at my work - some of my best friends today. And other women in the history department welcomed me into their circle and we watched Jane Austen together.

We added to our family in Minnesota too. It was less than a month after moving that we drove to the animal shelter and adopted Qwill. We sat in a room with all these furry kittens and Qwill (at that time he was named Cherrio by the shelter folks) was the one who called to us by "cutely" chewing on Boyd's necklace. It quickly became a not-so-cute trait of his but he turned out (mostly) alright in the end! Remember when he was smaller than my teddy bear? I don't...

There's so much I could share from these last 6 years. Mostly I wanted to reflect on that first year after the move - both to think about how far we've come since moving to Minnesota and to remind myself that our next move will be fine as well. In fact, as much as I'll miss friends here, I looking forward to the move as a great new part of my life.

Part 4 - Immigrants in Canada

I'll keep in touch and let you know how it goes! I have great hopes for more great friends, for finding more amazing restaurants and cafe, for finding a community and neighbors, and for learning new ways of doing things and new ways of relating to the world. Sounds fun, eh?

To finish up I just want to post a few more of my favorite photos from Part 3. Thank you to all of you who have been a part of our lives here. We've sure enjoyed it and we'll never again think of Minnesota as a fly-over state!