I love living in West Michigan. When I came over to go to Calvin, within a month, I just knew that someday this would be home- I just wasn't sure when. Well, I have lived in the area longer than any other place in my whole life and overall it's wonderful! I've got the whole Dutch scene figured out and can now pronounce names that before would give me a migraine trying to say. I love being only 40 minutes or so from Lake Michigan. The "quadrants" make sense now and are actually helpful when avoiding construction on the expressways. Traverse City is only two hours away making it a perfect day trip destination. Even the winters aren't terribly unbearable, usually.
One thing that bugs me though is the lack of enthusiasm this week about "Game Day". We used to go crazy all week leading up to Saturday. I don't know how many football cookies we'd go through every year; over here there is no such thing! The "friendly banter" with the blue & gold guys started on Sunday and by Saturday the two sides were not on speaking terms (at least during the game); no one seems to care about the game at all here. I tell my friends about how we'd decorate the house and split the family room in two. I tell them about the first time Chuck came to a gameday party and how I wouldn't sit next to him until the game was over. People here just look at me like I'm speaking of some foreign ritual!
Oh well. I know that in the grand scheme of things that this football game doesn't mean much. However, it will always be an important day to me. Maybe I should figure out how to duplicate White's football cookies and buy a CD of the Spartan band to play while we eat them!