Winona on my mind

Pough and I recently noticed that we have recurring themes. We have been hearing or noticing random things multiple times within a short span of time. For example, we heard "500 Miles" by the Proclaimers three times in one day (on different radio stations) while driving to Lake George.

"Look," he said Wednesday as we walked through Chelsea, "Unicorn DVD. That's the third "unicorn" reference we've had in the past hour."

"Weird," I agreed. But as I thought about themes lately in my life. Winona, the town in MN where I went to college, has been popping up ALOT. First of all, Pough & I are planning a stopover there during our cross country adventure to my hometown in Wisconsin to visit my friend Alison and spend time in that beloved city where I spent five years of my life; Alison herself is coming to visit in April or May, which I'm super excited about.

And I've been in touch with two girls from my alma mater, Winona State University, who want to go into publishing and are coming out to NYC for a weekend in April to check things out and meet with me and a couple of my friends in publishing. Those two girls were referred to me by a former English professor of mine, who called me this week at work to congratulate me on all my successes and to give me her home phone number so we can catch up while I'm in Winona with Pough.

Also, as I mentioned before, my favorite country station is KQ98 which I've listened to online pretty much all week----and, to top everything else, the Winona State Warriors men's basketball team, currently the defending NCAA Division II national champions, are heading to Springfield, MA for another championship game. As promised last year, I'm going this year with my friend Kiddo and a couple of his friends if WSU goes all the way.

I initially questioned it: do I miss my life in Winona that much? Do I want to move back? And then I thought, no, I don't. But it's a part of who I am, a part that I celebrate. And I can't help but be amused at all the Winona references this week--and that I'm a role model for two girls that are pretty much exactly like me, only a few years younger.

Hopefully next weekend I'll be riding on a bus to Massachusetts to meet one of my good friends from college and to join a ton of people that are wearing the very same Winona State sweatshirt that lasted me through three years of college, multiple camping trips and gave me comfort when I first moved here that I had the strength to succeed in this big, bad city. It's always heartwarming when things come full circle.