Roxanne Suson, a Brookfield native and graduate of Brookfield East High School, provides readers with an eclectic mix of topics. Once a trial attorney, now a full-time mom, Roxanne blogs about the happiness, sadness, and absurdity of life and family in the suburbs.
Why would a person who doesn’t live in Brookfield want to write a blog about Brookfield? The answer is a simple one. The reasons behind the answer are a bit more complicated.
I’m certainly no stranger to Brookfield. My parents, originally from the Philippines, moved to Brookfield in the winter of 1974. (Why people from a tropical region would move to Wisconsin is perhaps the subject for a future story.) I grew up in Brookfield, graduated from Brookfield East High School, and continued to live with my parents in Brookfield while I attended Marquette University and Marquette University Law School. Deciding it was time to leave the nest, I moved into an apartment on the eastside, only to move back to Brookfield two years later after meeting my future husband, who is from … wait for it …. Brookfield.
After getting married, my husband and I moved to Pewaukee, mainly because my stepdaughter goes to school there. She lives with us half the time and can easily catch the bus from our home. So, for the present, we’re still in Pewaukee.
The simple answer as to why I’m writing this blog about Brookfield: It still feels like home. Explaining why is the hard part. It’s certainly not the same Brookfield I grew up in. When I was a child, and even as a teen, a lot of the city was still undeveloped. There are more people now. There’s more traffic, more everything.
Of course, there’s always a feeling of home in the things and places of our childhood. My parents still live in the same house I grew up in, and I still occasionally refer to their house as “home,” much to the confusion and sometimes consternation of my husband. But the feeling I have is more than just familiarity. It’s a sense of ease. Not so much comfort as … “comfortableness.” Kind of like putting on your favorite ratty bathrobe. It’s not the same as when it was new, and maybe you’ve even bought others, but nothing fits quite like the old one.
I’m looking forward to sharing with you my memories of the Brookfield of yesterday and comparing it to the Brookfield of today. I’m also excited about attending some of the new events and exploring some of the new places that have sprung up since I last moved, the experiences of which will be material for future blogs.
Of course, I’ll also be giving you my opinions on any “hard” news that surfaces, and I’ll certainly be open to hearing yours. So, although I don’t technically live in Brookfield, not yet anyway, I’ll be content to write about it for now.
