#SaturdayPlatterDay Musings 8.14.21

If anyone out there is wondering if it would be a fun activity to say goodbye to the home and people that you love, I assure you it’s not. Frankly, it really sucks. More than most things, I’d dare to say.

The party we threw for Ari the week before we left was all kinds of bittersweet. It made the leaving exponentially harder, but only because it made us realize how much goodness we had in our lives.

The party we threw for Ari the week before we left was all kinds of bittersweet. It made the leaving exponentially harder, but only because it made us realize how much goodness we had in our lives. It was Olympics themed, which made perfect sense considering the incredible feat of human strength and willpower it took us to tear ourselves away from Grand Rapids.

If you ever get the chance, do yourself a favor and visit that little city in west Michigan. There are trails to explore, breweries to enjoy, a blue bridge to propose on, old beautiful houses to pine after, and an underlying charm that’s pure midwestern. I wouldn’t be surprised if Grand Rapids, Michigan was the most supremely underrated city in all the USA.

And the people. The people are like none other. They’ll bring you homemade lasagna and blueberry muffins after you had a baby and stay and talk and make you feel like there’s a chance you might still be the same person you were before becoming a parent. They’ll meet you for long walks around the neighborhood, watch bad movies with you in your living room, and eat all the snacks you make for them. They’ll join your book clubs and you’ll join their movie clubs. You’ll look forward going to work every day because you know you’ll get to see some of your best friends between sending out emails. They’ll watch your dog and take the best care of him when you’re out of town. They’ll always be up for a conversation or a book recommendation or just an update on life in general. They will love you honestly and fully and just as you are. And finally they’ll come to the parties you throw in your mostly-packed up house and tell you how much you’ll be missed and how much you mean to them. And they’ll say it all in such a way that you have no choice but to believe them wholeheartedly. And when they are all gathered around singing Happy Birthday to your one-year-old and you realize that every single person in that room helped raise your child in some shape or form, your heart will overflow with gratitude so completely and utterly that you just barely hold back the tears long enough to help your baby blow out the candle.

All that to say Grand Rapids, you have loved us well.