That's going to change. Boy, is it ever!
We had been talking about a visit to Madison, WI, and it happens that
After looking at our plans and events I have to cover back home, we had to decide between either making last-minute plans for this weekend or else waiting until late July. We're going for this weekend.
A factor in this is that I wanted to get this done in June (usually the lightest month of the year for me, work-wise) and also because the weather is supposed to be mild (highs in the upper 70s) in Madison this weekend. In late July, we'd be daring the weatherman to send mid 90s temperatures to Mad Town, and our U.P. bodies have a limited tolerance for extreme heat.
No, thank you. A bird in the hand is just fine with me.
That was just decided yesterday, giving us two days to make our physical and mental preparations for the journey. That's easy for me, not so easy for my wife, but she's willing to go. Besides, she wants to see Madison a lot, and K knows some good places. And K sounds very eager to have us stay there. It may be hectic, but it should also be a blast. We're leaving Friday morning and getting back home Sunday night. Yeah, just a weekend.
Then, one week later, we're off on another odyssey. This time the destination is that neopagan event in southern Wisconsin, where we will be camping in the woods four days and three nights. It's my second time there and her first. (She was there last summer for a one-day event.)
Frankly, I'm not absolutely sure how I feel about it. I asked her to go because I enjoyed my time there last year so much, and I'm trying to get her to adopt that way of thinking: the divine is in all of us, love is all, responsible non-monogamy. So when it became clear that she was thinking about it, I was happy.
Then she said the reason she decided to go was so she could be with me. That can be good or not so good. I want her to meet and get to know others, maybe make a few friends. I do not want her to be a puppy dog, following me wherever I go. We'll have a lot of time together, as it is, anyway.
Other concerns: (1) She has not camped out for many years, and living in a tent may be a bit of a strain, although we are trying to anticipate everything. We're not taking cooking gear, so we likely will head to town for some meals. (2) In her personal habits, dress and sexuality, she is extremely timid, cautious and unadventurous. In short, about the opposite of many of the other women who were there last year. So is she going to be a wallflower? Or is she going to be a part of things?
Well, of course you know what I'm hoping: that this will open a whole new world for her, one that she will be happy to embrace and join me in it. Back home, she can go back to all the activities that she does now at church. But I really want to unlock her mind from the dungeon of its conservative upbringing. If we can do that, it will be quite an accomplishment.
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Long-time readers (back in the MB days) know about S and that I met her during last year's event. For what it's worth, S won't be there this year. She is back with her husband in Wisconsin and is trying to make a go with him again. It sounds like he is trying very hard to be more understanding, so I am doing my bit to help it succeed by staying away. (We haven't met in the last six months; have just been trading e-mails since December.)
They are going to go to Starwood this summer, and for S's husband, with his very conservative religious beliefs, to bend that much, something good must be happening. Time will tell.
Anyway, these are going to be busy weekends coming up. Somehow I'll try to keep in touch with all you guys here.
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