It all started December 18th 2004 in Hartland, Wisconsin. It was a cold winter day, also my birthday and the story only goes uphill. Winter. Coldest time of the year, yet Wisconsin always found a way to warm my heart. 

I grew up laying in the cold wet snow looking at all the glorious angles I left behind. The bright white sun often made my angles sparkle and shine, just like how I imagined an angle would look. As time went on, snow angels turned into snowmen. I used all my force in my body to push the lump of snow into the perfect position before placing the bright orange carrot nose, a black hat, and a red cozy scarf. 

The next winter I was finally able to carry my own sled. I dragged my snow tube up the large neighborhood hill, but all the walking was worth being able to rush down what I used to imagine was a mountain, hoping not to knock someone down in my path. Luckily the only thing I ran over were my own tiny footsteps lodged deep into the snow. 

This need for speed continued, and as I got older I taught myself how to snowboard racing down Little Switzerland's mountain that I once imagined as a kid. And all of this while being able to run inside my roasting warm house– snow gear and all– to receive some creamy hot chocolate my mom made to warm me from the inside out. Although I always dread winter coming, once it arrives it's not all that bad. 

Those freezing cold winters turned into spring, plants emerging from the frozen ground and getting our first tastes of summer. Picking dandelions (which I now know are not the pretty innocent flowers I once viewed them as) was one of my favorite pastimes in the spring. Who doesn't want a good dandelion in their vase?

 I lay in the grass dreaming for the day it would finally be warm enough to run around in shorts and a tank top, or a light flowy sundress. These dreams never made spring any less of what it was. This was the time when recess as a child was the most fun, creating new games on the playground and trying to climb the trees before getting yelled at by the teachers, and what about field days? Games galore as school finally was winding down for the year. 

My hair would start to glow golden in the sun and my cheeks barely pink as sunscreen was not yet necessary but the sun still beamed just enough to reach my olive skin. I often help pick new flowers for the yard and try my best to plant them but more dirt ends up on me than in the flower pot… oops. That's alright we can always turn on the hose and spray everyone down from the mud. Hey, if you didn't get dirty, you didn't have fun, right?

With the flowers in full bloom, summer is now alive in everyone's eyes. Every neighbor meeting at our house for a day by the pool, popsicles dripping down my chubby fingers and lemonade being everyone's drink of choice. 

Oftentimes our nanny– also our neighbor– brings us to the Hartland Public Library, but only to pick out a new movie for late nights, as books are for school. As bedtimes are extended I am finally able to sit up with “the big girls” and finish a movie. I was the youngest of the neighborhood kids. 

Now I am a nanny to four boys driving them to the Milwaukee County Zoo and buying them food for the goats. This community never fails to make me feel safe as I run around all of Wisconsin to keep them entertained.

When not babysitting, I fly around with the roof of my bright yellow jeep pulled off and make my way to the closest thing we have to the ocean, a lake. I fill my day with boat rides on the pontoon and hop off at any given moment to take the jet ski for a ride.My skin now dark showing how much the sun loved me, and how I loved the sun right back.

Suddenly the first day of school is approaching and the green leaves start browning and falling to the ground.  The beautiful colors you get to see while driving through the trees. Blood orange, scarlet red, and golden yellows adorn the branches, something so beautiful often overlooked as the cold weather seeps in.

Baking soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies as a kid and making the biggest possible blanket forts in our dining room(which was never used for dining) are some of the fondest memories I have as the night first gets chilly again. 

I will never forget about Halloween in Wisconsin. The neighborhood went all out in decorating their houses to look spooky and each house was remembered by whether they had king sized candy bars, our house, of course, had the best candy and kids lined the sidewalk to get first dibs.

Pumpkins, caramel apples, corn mazes, all things I love and carry with me through my childhood. I will never stop going out to the pumpkin patch on a sunny weekend wearing a cozy sweater to find myself the perfect pumpkin to carve. 

Wisconsin may seem like there is nothing to do, but I assure you my whole childhood was filled with amazing people and things to do with every season. Being in Wisconsin my whole life has truly made me a better person and I will never forget the memories made in my forever home state. I love you Wisconsin, even when I act like I don’t.