Home for the holidays

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For the first time in 6 years I traveled back to my central Wisconsin home of Marshfield for Christmas. I've been back to the US several times in between but it has been in summer.

Last time, we came home to announce we were having our first child. Now we have three kids. Our youngest is 8 months old and will not remember a thing.

Visiting my childhood home has been strange to say the least. It has not changed much except the trees are all grown in, the house has geothermal water heat, and there have been a few redecorations. The biggest change was the ride up from Milwaukee where we were staying with my sister.

In my youth, the best way to get to Marshfield was to take a winding road north out of Mauston. Now we take a highway to Stevens Point and highway 10 across. Hwy 10 was a 2 lane road connecting eastern and western Wisconsin. Now it's a behemoth 4 lane super road with limited traffic. It cut the time drastically but didn't feel right. What felt weirder was when the 4 lane ends and joins hwy 80 (formerly known as hwy 13). There weren't any stop lights. Instead there was a roundabout! A roundabout in central Wisconsin? What's that about? But wait there isn't just one but where 80 splits with hwy 10 west there is another.

It's odd to be here. It's my domicile but not really my home anymore. It's a place I was born, grew up and left. I still have friends here and will see one or two. My home is only slightly unchanged and that let's me show my kids aspects of my life they have never seen.

I'll spend a few days in Marshfield with my siblings, their spouses, my wife and kids and a place I used to call home. This will be the last Christmas in this home and last time I visit Marshfield. It raised me but now I have moved on.



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