The Long Way Home: An Introduction

The hardest thing I’ve ever done was move back to Wisconsin from California. It had sort of a frightening feel because my life would be so different yet again. I was divorced in 1999, and had four kids ages 10 and under. We lived on Monterey Bay for 10 years about two blocks from the beach with near-perfect weather year round. That was a far cry from where I grew up. 

Raised in River Falls in a traditional home of two parents, seven kids, and a lifestyle with plenty of extended family in the area, I was not content to stay there. I wanted to live the free spirit lifestyle of the 70s and did just that while on many road trips. I even stayed put long enough a few times to live in several western states sporadically over that 10-year period.

I enjoyed the adventures and freedoms I was looking for during that time and wouldn’t have missed those experiences for anything. I also learned a lot during those independent years that would help later when I found myself settling down in California and living the traditional life I had tried so hard to leave behind years before.

Things changed as I was soon dealing with cancer, divorce, four young kids and then attaining my AS degree, all in just a few short years.

We had a large extended family that were not blood-related at all, and they were there for us at every turn since at times I could barely see past current circumstances while we lived precariously one day at a time. As miraculous as our lives were in California, the long-term outlook for growing kids was not so wonderful at all. 

I knew it was the right thing to do, but moving my kids to Wisconsin was the hardest thing I have ever required of them. They had championed all the good, bad and ugly issues of our lives at the time, but moving them from the only life they knew to a drastically different lifestyle would be a giant leap into the unknown for all of us. We made decisions as we went along, and each of us had many hard times to deal with in the process. We decided early on that our family motto would be “All for one and one for all!” and pretend to draw our swords to emphasize the words, which has served us well. 

We have been living in Hudson now for 10 years and while not perfect, my little family finally has the long-term security and grounding that we desperately needed. I have a decent full time job, a house with a dog, and plenty of extended family nearby that are there for us. I’m also a Grandma now, my youngest kids are in high school and for all that, I am living the conventional life of Wisconsin and loving it! I had come full circle in my journey of taking the long way home. The hardest thing I have ever done was to move back to Wisconsin from California. Would I do it again? You betcha!