Two Rivers, WI is an hour and a half south of me on the coast of Lake Michigan. It’s also an hour and half north of Milwaukee where one of my best friends, Jenna, lives.
One of the reasons I made the decision to move to Door County was that I felt my center of relationships tightening in the Midwest. My parents in Egg Harbor, my brother and sister-in-law in Madison, Cara and Lin moving to Des Moines, and Jenna in Milwaukee. Everyone in driving distance instead of a plane ride away (plus a lot of planning and transportation costs).
Jenna and I made the drive to Two Rivers for the first time today to get carryout brunch from a local restaurant and hang out on the quiet beach where we could social distance and enjoy the sand and water while we caught up for a few hours. We’d brought a blanket to sit on, but didn’t need it when we saw two chairs perched on a small hill set apart from everything else. It was like they were meant for us.
As we caught up on the recent developments in our lives — though we stay in touch it’d been nearly a year since we’d visited in-person — we reflected that in the future we might not need the same big catch-ups. We intend to see each other more often now that we’re close and with that comes being a part of someone’s life rather than just hearing about it. Of course, pandemic and life constraints doesn’t mean it’ll be every weekend, but all the barriers of planning to fly across the country are gone. It was easy to drive for a bit and spend a sunny afternoon chatting at a halfway spot. We are accessible to each other again in a physical way for the first time in a decade.
I am so grateful for the sign after sign that tells me I read the map correctly: I am supposed to be here. And today I was supposed to be in Two Rivers, feeling grateful for a lifelong true friend.
With Love,
Natalie