At Home in Colorado

When my wife and I returned to Colorado from Wisconsin a few weeks ago, I felt for the first time since moving here the sense of returning home. I've long considered Madison, Wisconsin my hometown; I was born there, I lived there until I was four and again from twelve until I went to college, and I went to college and law school in the Midwest. I moved out to the Denver area in 2002, following my then-girlfriend (now wife). I liked the mountains and the fair weather, but parts of me missed the midwest. The near-constant Colorado sun seemed just a bit too sunny, and the green of a midwestern summer overwhelms the drab greenish-brown of the Colorado plains and foothills. And, of course, many of my closest family and friends still live in the midwest.

But this time, somehow, Wisconsin felt more alien to me. Its oddities, the things that fuel Wisconsin stereotypes, stood out more awkwardly — like Packers jerseys and larger, more vaguely Germanic- and Scandinavian-looking people. The sun seemed unusually faint and buried in clouds.

I'm still getting to know Colorado. And I still harbor some dismay at the fact that visiting any of our friends and family elsewhere requires an inconvenient and expensive trip. It helps to be reminded, though, that I feel this is the right place to be right now.