When We Were Young

Drive east on 94 from Minneapolis through Wisconsin
Get off at exit 59, the first one for Eau Claire
Drive four miles and exit at Clairemont
Take Clairemont to the right and go another four miles and turn left on Menomonie
Take Menomonie until it turns into Water Street
Take Water until 7th avenue
Take a left and stop in front of the first house after the American Legion Parking lot.
You've arrived - 213 7th Avenue Eau Claire, Wisconsin

The blue minivan made this trip a great number of times between the fall of 2002 and the summer of 2005. I came as a visitor but it felt more like I was arriving home when I walked in that door. It was a place where an impossible amount of memories were formed and ridiculous statements were made. A place where one roommate wondered, "What the hell is in the water in Wausau?" and another came out his bedroom at 4 AM and said, "I made a boo boo." We drank Beast Lights, ate Rocky Rococo's, they attended an occasional class and I smoked an occasional cig. My brother lived there with three others, and they came to accept me, one of them begrudgingly, as an adopted roommate as well. And I proceeded to take couch sleeping to the next level.

I came for the camaraderie, I came for the laughs, and eventually, I came for the poker.

In the beginning, it was all about your bag of quarters. Everyone would bring theirs and plop it down in front of them at the table. Buy-in was $5, or 20 quarters. The prize for winning was typically $20, or 80 quarters to add to your collection. The heavier the bag, the greater your standing in the house. This was when we experienced our first successes and setbacks, determined how best to be coy and tricky, witty and difficult. The stakes weren't high, but the end game mattered. Losing sucked. And figuring out how not to lose became paramount. 

For a few of us, the seeds were planted for the possibility of something bigger down the road. We didn't really know what that meant. Only that something was blooming. But did anyone want to water it?