Summerfest!

This is my seventh year in Milwaukee.  It's crazy to think that I know have spent more time in Milwaukee, living in this condo, than I did in Madison.  Casey mentioned something about moving to Janesville yesterday (it was a weak moment and he was feeling stressed), but I immediately said no.  This place is my home.  I love that I can go back to where I grew up so easily, but I would miss my life here terribly.  And what's even better, my friends from Janesville keep moving here!

I spent two different nights this week at Summerfest.  It's the World's Largest Outdoor Music festival. Cousin Steve is obsessed; I, however, haven't been in a LONG time!  It was fun to get back there! On Wednesday night, I saw Rascal Flatt's with Chrissy Kuerschner.  Of course, my phone was dead and I didn't take a single photo!  What I loved most about the show was just catching up with her.  Chrissy lives less than 2 miles from my house, but we have seen very little of each other in the last year.  Mostly because, we have become so busy in our own lives.  Chrissy's mom has terminal lung cancer.  It is heart breaking.  Her mom, Joan, was never a smoker.  Never lived in a home with a smoker.  She is kind, generous, intelligent, and thoughtful.  Chrissy's parents were high school sweethearts, and  they have always appeared just as in love, almost 40 years later, as I assume they were when they were 16 years old.    Joan is, hands down, Chrissy's best friend.  I am worried about how she is going to do without her mom.  Heck, I would be lost without mine.  I was happy to spend a night with Chrissy, listening to heartache, sharing tears, laughing, being silly, hearing her plans for the future, and hopefully forgetting about life just for a moment.

Friday night I went to see Fun with Krissy/Paul and Dre/Steve.  Paul has lived in a Milwaukee suburb for a few years, but Krissy, Dre, and Steve all moved here in June.  I couldn't be more thrilled.  These two girls have been such a big part of my life.  Dre and I became friends in middle school.  We roomed together for a year of college.  Krissy joined our group of girls in high school after moving from the East Coast.  She went to Edgewood College in Madison and although we never lived together, it sure felt like we did for as much time as I spent at her house (which actually was my house two years prior!).  We shared so many nights and events together. We have traveled together for spring breaks. They both were in my wedding.  We know each other's past and dreams for the future.  I LOVE that I can see them so easily now!

Andrea posted this picture to facebook, and I teacher I used to work with asked if she was my sister.  She's not my sister by birth, but both are my sisters by choice for sure!