This isn't a blog about "Fiddler on the Roof."
On the other hand, maybe it is.
Tomorrow morning, I'm heading up to Door County for my 16th annual "camping trip" with my best friend, Eron. I put it in quotes, because other than sleeping in a tent in Peninsula State Park, we're not really doing much camping.
And I couldn't be more excited.
It's not that the trip is especially amazing on its own, but I love the fact that, despite our increasingly complicated lives, we've made it each and every year since we were 20 years old in 1994. Where applicable, we go to the same restaurants, batting cages, parks and shops. I wait all summer for this three-day excursion.
My Spring Training ritual is about the same, only that started in 1998 and has included more people. If I had my druthers, these trips would stay exactly the same, year after year. Nothing would change, and I'd be delighted to spend a long weekend "Groundhog Day" style.
What can I say? I love tradition.
I asked Eron about this once, to see if he had an explanation for our "Ritual de lo Habitual." He pondered it for a second and said, "Because we're Jews -- we've been doing things the same way for 4,000 years."
Eron has a point, but I think guys of all religions love their traditions. Whether it's sitting in the same seats at Miller Park, picking a lucky sports bar to watch Packers games, or even driving the exact same route on a trip that has numerous routes ... this is what guys do.
Or at least it's what my friends do.
I have plenty of long-time traditions that I won't bore you with, but I think the Door County camping trip has the most longevity. I can't wait to be there -- and we have absolutely no agenda or plans, other than to do what we do each and every year: Laugh and relax.
What are your favorite personal traditions? Chime in with the Talkback feature below.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
