When the town is literally painted red

I’m an alumni of the University of Wisconsin. I spent 4.5 amazing years there as a college student, my days filled with plants, partying and writing so I could graduate with degrees in Horticulture, Having Shit Tons of Fun and Life Science Communications. It’s where I discovered who my real friends were and started learning there was a very large, diverse world waiting for me.

I was thrilled to travel back to the city with 3 of my old roommates, girls I met at 20 and am grateful to still call my friends almost 13 years later.

I’m rockin’ total pregnancy face. I swear even my nose retains water when I get knocked up.

The occasion? Wisconsin VS Nebraska. The girls and their beau’s had tickets. Joey and I opted to forgo the crazy pricey  tickets (Joey was heartbroken, but understood) assuming my body would revolt against hours of standing and sitting.

The city of Madison, always a site to see on game day with three-story beer bongs and tailgates covering every inch of space, was resonating with anticipation. It was a sea of red everywhere I looked, with smatterings of black as over 20,000 cornhusker fans swarmed the area.

Joey and I only live about an hour away from Madison, but rarely visit. It was surreal to be back, 8-months pregnant, waddling the streets I used to parade up and down on my way to class or a series of parties, when babies were something I didn’t understand and tried very hard to avoid. At one point, a boozed up college student walked up to me and said, “Hey, Baby!” I was horrified, until I realized he meant “Hey – baby!” as in my stomach. How times have changed, y’all.

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It was a great day, though I did feel as if my uterus would explode by the end of it and the last steps to our car where agonizing.

It felt really good to be back in a city that helped create the person I am today. To remember that before there was a career, a home and a family, it was just my friends and me and seemingly endless fun. I was happy to find that girl still exists in me, though I’ll admit she’s harder to tap into these days. As I head into a life with even more chaos and responsibility, it was the perfect reminder to never let myself drown in it, and to always keep buoys, in the form of awesome husband and friends, nearby.

• ← This post sponsored by many doughnuts. Also, I’m 36 weeks pregnant.
• From scratch →