Birthdays, Nudists, and Strawberry Jam-- a little more about Madison

Well, it's my golden birthday in three days. Caleb has some tricks up his sleeve, and I'm excited about those. My birthday is kind of the event of the year besides Christmas and Thanksgiving. It's usually celebrated over a period of months, beginning in May or June and finally wrapping up in August. That will probably change this year. Although, we did get to start the celebration last Thursday with a delicious and decadent chocolate cake from Caleb's parents that we have been nibbling on all weekend. YUM.

I'm wondering about the mysteries of meeting people out of college. It's really weird not to be in a structured environment after living in one for most of my entire life. It's like living in outer space. This would be great if I was one of those create your own destiny people, but I'm not. I like other people to tell me what to do and where to go and what I should be involved in. College was great. So many things that were already set up for me to do. And now. And now. And now. And now. Here I am. Well, world, what do you hold for me today? The question is, I'm finding, what do I hold for the world? I don't really feel like I have that much in me to pioneer out there in the so called big world. The truth is, the world is HUGE. And I have no idea where to go or where to start.

We went downtown yesterday to go to the farmer's market in Madison, and we drove through the university and it was massive!!!! I've been thinking about doing a grad program there, but it's so so so big compared to everything I'm used to. I think I would get utterly lost there. But that's just the fear speaking. Everyone in this city knows what's happening, and I am content to live in the suburbs and read books. They know about politics and nuances and government stuff. Get this, there was a nudist bike ride while we were at the farmer's market. Never experienced that before. We were at a stand buying strawberry jam, and all the sudden, cheers go up and all these naked people go by on their little bikes. The lady at the stand said "Oh yeah, this happens every year." And I said, "Every Saturday?!" "No, just once a year." Well, that's good news. I knew we were moving to a liberal progressive town, but I didn't know it was this progressive. It's hard to figure it out. Some of the people really like cheese curds, and some like nudist bike rides.

Oh, an update on the pregnancy thing. We went to the mall on Thursday and there were actually reserved parking spaces for expectant mothers or mothers with young children. And then, there was a sign at the counter at Potbelly where we went for dinner that had the handicap symbol and then on the opposite side there was a symbol for a mother with children and it said, "Need assistance, just ask." Wow. Now this is a town that really caters to its pregnant women and mothers population. If all pregnant women and mothers were treated like this, they wouldn't have anything to complain about. I bet that women are so excited when they get pregnant because they can finally use the parking spaces. It's like a secret incentive. "Yes!! I'm finally pregnant! I've been waiting since I was a kid to be able to use this parking space!" It's a plan to grow the town or something.

That's all for now. From Madison, the town where there's something in the water, out.