county fair and a bit of home

the labor day weekend means the sheboygan county fair has arrived in plymouth, wisconsin! i spent so. so. so. much time there in middle and high school, hanging out on the midway and trying to look cool. now i'm older and done trying to look cool, but i still love the fair. i've spent some time reflecting lately on what it means to grow up in rural wisconsin, with friends in the ffa and 4-h, friends who show horses and help on their family farms. we all had cars, and had 5+ mile commutes to school on misty dark country roads. we all lived in far flung townships and rural communities. we all looked forward to the fair, at the start of the school year, where we could stand around outside in the glow of the zipper and the gravitron, thinking about crushes and gossiping about nothingness. my kids will have all the same trying to look cool, all the same standing around, all the same gossip and obsessions, but it won't be at the county fair. it won't be in their friend's horse stall. it won't be on long country road drives to a friend's house. i don't know what the context of their adolescence will look and feel like, but i know it won't be like mine.
and part of my heart feels sad about that. i wonder if i won't feel the full weight of nostalgia and empathy and connection when they have their adolescent angst because their context will be so different than mine. i wonder if maybe the sadness is only selfish nostalgia, and means absolutely nothing for my children. their lives will always be their own, and different than mine.

and that is a good a thing.

but it's not going to stop me from sharing my county fair with them as often as i can.

we can ride in a golf cart from the parking lot to the entrance on a hot august day!


james can fly into the sky on a dragon!


ramona and i can hit up another ferris wheel!


we can be there for the groundbreaking event of my parents' very first county fair ride together! (seriously, they've lived in plymouth since august, 1989, and haven't ever climbed onto a ride at the county fair until this year.) (they enjoyed it. i'm sure of it.)
 

selfie wtih mormor and morfar on the ferris wheel! total highlight of the weekend.

after the fair, we found some dear friends at their new house in plymouth, and slowly regained our strength in their air conditioning. (oh, the fair was HOT). as we left, the girls followed us to the car, climbed in, and tried to go home with us. they don't know how close i was to taking them. they are the best.

back at home, my mom's garden continues to marvel and provide a lovely place to be. her orchard is my favorite, and right now it is full of ripening apples and pears. our little orchard workers got right to it.



and then. the group pictures. always. 

 thank you thank you thank you, mom and dad. thank you.
...for bringing me to plymouth. for making me a wisconsin girl. for making me love a good garden and orchard. for knowing the value of family, new and old. for loving my kids like you love me.
thank you.