Born and (Sort Of) Raised

A week and a half ago, Tom and Will visited Ann Arbor, Michigan so they could play all of Tom's favorite disc golf courses tour the University of Michigan campus.  

They toured the campus, yes. But they also played A LOT of disc golf over the span of the 36 hours they were in town.

Will and Hallie were born at the University of Michigan Hospital, and we brought them both home to our first house on Hampshire Drive in Ann Arbor. When we moved to College Station, Will had just turned four and Hallie was approaching two years old; as a result, Hallie has zero memories of life before Texas, but Will has a handful. Neither of them had/have been back though...Michigan is REALLY far from Texas.

Tom has traveled to Ann Arbor for work a couple of times since we've lived in Texas, and on these trips he's made time to stop by and take pictures in front of our old house. On one of these "photoshoots," Tom met the new owner, who turned out to be a pretty nice and welcoming guy. 

On this most recent trip, and in an attempt to trigger a few of those old memories and show Will "where he came from," Tom took Will to the house. The current owner remembered Tom, welcomed both Tom and Will in...and helped them take a few updated photos. I guess they're all officially friends now, because when Tom and Will left, they made plans with the owner to get together for dinner the next time we're in town.

~

Tom also took Will down two additional - buses* and disc golf** - memory lanes, and while I'm sure Will thought taking these pictures was ridiculous, I'm so glad he willingly participated (or that Tom made him participate).

~

~

* Will LOVED to ride the bus, and doing so was free around campus. Sometimes we parked near Tom's office, rode the bus downtown, visited the toy store or the library, and then rode the bus back. Other times we just rode the entire bus loop, never getting off until we'd made the full circle back to our car. 

** Tom started taking Will disc golfing at six months old. It was a gift to me, in that I got a little break while they were both out of the house, but it also turned out to significantly impact the trajectory of both of of their lives and their relationship with one another.

~

Born and (sort of) raised in Michigan...it was a great start.