Chatting with a retired staff member of Area Agency on Aging (AAA) a few months ago, she commented on my retirement and said, ”I can see a Florida condo in your future”. Smiling, my response that she didn’t know me well reflected my love of Michigan.
Florida is beautiful. My parents lived there about thirty years and I enjoyed visits. I will continue to enjoy visits and short stays. Michigan’s bounty however, and its richness of lakes can’t be replaced in my heart. Whatever my travels, this is home.
Michiganders have broad memories of the lakes and natural world in their personal histories. They tend to rate high in the encyclopedia of childhood memories.
Treating myself last week to a couple hours reading on a Lake Michigan beach under an umbrella, of course I went for a swim. Crowds gone with the advent of school, the largely deserted water was delightful – clear, warm and bright. Hundreds of minnows swayed in the waves by shore.
It brought back thoughts of so many times as a child summering on Lake Huron’s shore and having minnows brush against my feet with their gentle tickling and nibbling. My mother said they were just cleaning my toes.
During a recent visit to an inland lake, lines of minnows leapt out of the water with bass leaping after them in hot pursuit. Conversations on the dock silenced as the splashes of a cat and mouse like game diverted our attention and momentarily stirred the water into a bubbling mass.
Sailing with my husband for many years and enjoying boats in general, the mental health release of water play is real. You can hear it in the shrieks of excited children and adult laughter. It seems every family has their favorite place or memory.
For all the adventurous fun the lakes provide, nothing rivals the beauty of their quieter moments. Gliding on clear waters along rockier shores, whether it be in kayak, canoe, paddleboard, rowboat, or sailboat, submerged rocks pull your view into the quiet depths. All manner of brown, gray, yellowish or green rocks coast by, their depth difficult to discern.
Same goes for fish. Standing lakeside with calm water, it’s not unusual to see schools of larger fish swim by relatively close to shore. Kayaking in the straits of Mackinaw along the U.P. shore this summer, a highlight of my paddling was a large brown trout swimming just below the surface. It passed under me mid-kayak, continuing on its way out the other side.
The icing on the cake? Michigan sunsets across water. They are sublime and quiet the mind. Even walks on the beach or swims tend to be quiet at sunset. People appear along the beach and bluffs to watch.
There’s often an urge to take pictures no matter how many you have; perhaps an urge to keep the beauty alive and take it with you. The variety of color patterns never ends. Sailing at this hour, the water at times is so iridescent that it would look fake if you could paint it.
The “awe” factor inspired by nature is real, and proven healthy for mind and body. In Michigan, we have an abundance of awe. What a place to call home.