Say YES to Michigan

The state theme was "Say YES to Michigan" sometime in the 80's. Growing up in Wisconsin, one would think that a pilgrimidge would have been made to the state of blue and gold, Lions, and Tigers however nothing could be further from the truth. My parents went to Michigan once from what I can recall. It was to visit my mom's best friend Mona who lived in some suburb of Detroit. Shocking, don't most people? Anyway, the visit to Miss B's parents was great. We spent the majority of our time in Ann Arbor and Chelsea, the home of Jiffy Mix. Even got to see the Jiffy Mix factory and everything. I had no idea.

After a four hour ride from Muskegon where the ferry dropped us off, we finally arrived at Miss B's parents house. There had been some sort of pooping drama with their miniature dog upon our arrival and it was unclear if the dog logs were dropped by Pocha or the neighbor's pooch Jasmine. At any rate, there was conversation and confusion amidst the meeting of the parents for the first time. We were greeted with the best food in days! Seared tuna, cucumber salad, seaweed salad, and strawberries and ice cream for dessert. Such a change of pace from the grease and cheese we had been dining on previously. Throw in a couple of glasses of wine and it was a great first meeting. Miss B's mom did, within the first two hours of our visit ask if we had already had a committment ceremony. B replied "Um, no mom, you would have been invited to come to that. But we are engaged.". Not much said about it after that other than "Skeets", (Miss B's mom) had found an article a while ago about gay weddings, gay rings, and saved it for us to read while suggesting we purchase rings for the wedding with gay symbols on them. I let Miss B handle that conversation. I merely continued to drink my wine and nod when appropriate.

The bed situation at the Pryor household was that of twin beds. We fell asleep every night for a while together. Eventually Miss B would get up to go into her bed as two adults in a twin is not ideal. We were so excited to get home to our bed! We talk about it every night now before we go to sleep.

Our first full day in Michigan was spent with my friend Ceef, a pal from Peace Corps who is working on his PhD in environmental psychology at the U of M. We went to the ever famous Cafe Zola where the Bear in Training used to work. The food was fantastic and the coffee the best found in the midwest. It was the triple latte I had been dreaming about for days since leaving San Francisco. Ceef filled us in on his world and the life of disortation and school. After lunch he and Miss B gave me a tour of the campus. We saw his office building, Miss B's former dorm, the different parts of campus. At some point we ended up by the Law library and directly across from that is a bar called Dominic's. There were eight million different kinds of microbrews to choose from and we got a pitcher of something or other and chatted more. That Ceef, he is one funny guy! Eventually we had to make our way onto the next friend destination, Miss B's pal Kristy. When we got to her place we were greeted by 3 small children and Kristy. We hung out with them for a while and it's hard to catch up with 3 babies in the room. Kristy would just get a good story going and there would be a CRASH or SCREAM from the next room and keeping track of all the topics amidst all the mayhem was a challenge. I guess that is what life with children is like. They were so welcoming and nice, just like midwesterners should be, right? After the time with children we headed to the Aut' bar in Ann Arbor to have dinner with two more of Miss B's friends from Lansing. At this point I had some sort of stomach condition ailing me. (Either the beer or the wine from the night before, not sure.) So the visit was good but I was hiding under a mask of "Oh my living lord I am going to hurl on my shoes!". It's a cute little bar with character and a fun night out, despite the gastrinomical challenges. At some point we made it back to Miss B's parents house and crashed.

The next day was all about Miss B's brother, sister in law, niece, and two nephews ranging in age from 2 up to 6. They were adorable and so fun to play with. We did lots of wrestling, Candyland, soccer, basketball, and tickeling. They wore us out! The funniest thing was getting questions from Bella, the 4 year old. She was completely confused by my hair cut, voice, and general appearance. Once the adults were out of the room it was as though I was being interrogated. "Why do you look like a boy? Why is your hair so short? Why do you wear so many rings? Why does your voice sound like a boy? What's your name again?" and so on. At one point the older nephew Mason decided to declare that my name was "Boy Dude". They also really liked that I was so rough and tumble with them, which is a bit more of a struggle with Miss B. I threw them around like mad and they loved it! My NBF also become Zacharay, the two year old. He was the cutest. Would just walk up, grab my hand, and say "Pauline, come here!". This of course went over well with the parents and thank goodness I did well with Scott and Deanna. We all stayed up until 11pm and Miss B and I got to crash in Bella's bed. How sweet is this: Every friday night Scott has a slumber party in the basement with Bella and Mason. No matter what. Can you believe it? Amazing. At any rate, they completely wore us out and we slept in until 8am.

On Saturday we went to Mason's baseball game for a while which was fantastic. Picture 6 year old boys playing Coach Pitch ball. Some of them would much rather build sand castles at second base then actually field the ball. Hilarious. After that was over we went to Miss B's parents again for an afternoon cookout and the kids, Scott, and Deanna joined us there. They were so welcoming and meeting all of them was such a pleasure. Couldn't ask for a better visit.

Michigan is alright.