I Wish it Was Always Summer in Northern Michigan

July 4, 2015
We are wrapping up our family vacation here in beautiful Cheboygan, Michigan.  This is where I grew up and where my parents still reside.  Northern Michigan is paradise in summertime!
Five years ago all three of my siblings and I, along with our families, were together at my parent's home for the summer holiday.  We determined then that we would do our very best to make the 4th of July an annual event.  Having all four Fenlon kids together in the same place at the same time was such a significant event (it had been YEARS) that we all expressed the desire to make this a tradition.
Unfortunately, time, money, work schedules and distance make this difficult.  While my family and I have been able to manage to make it up 4 years out of the last 5 my other siblings have had a more difficult time making the trip back.
We truly enjoy spending time with my parents, Aunt Betty, Emillie and the Kwiatkowski gang, and any other family or friends we are able to connect with while we are there.  There's nothing like quality time with family and there's nothing like summer in Northern Michigan.
The weather here is warm but mild.  In Illinois where we live it seems it is either hot or cold, summer or winter.  We are either running the air conditioning or the heater.  Somehow the milder, transitional seasons of spring and fall have been cut out altogether.  Not in Northern Michigan.
The colors still show themselves, bold and rich, on the leaves of the trees for weeks at a time beginning late September and lasting sometimes into November.  The air turns crisp and cool, football weather, we call it.  An in my hometown of Cheboygan, Michigan, there's nothing bigger than football.
The winters are long, cold and precipitous.  There is always lot of white, lovely snow.  It doesn't turn brown or dingy the way snow in the city does.  It remains clear and pristine.  This could be due to the consistently fresh layer that falls almost daily.  The lakes freeze over fairly early providing even more space for winter sports and adventure.  Snowmobiling, ice fishing and cross country skiing are big in these parts.
After many months of this wonderland of ice and snow, the season gives way to spring.  Ah, Spring, wet and wonderful!  The snow slowly melts leaving puddles in driveways and yards.  Winter coats are exchanged for spring jackets.  Umbrellas are pulled out of the closet and put to good use.  The sun shows itself more and more throughout Springtime.  The ground begins to warm and brilliant green buds surface as a result.  It is a lovely time of year.
But my favorite time of year in Northern Michigan is Summertime.  The plentiful waterways come alive with boats, jet skis, rafts and swimmers.  People you haven't seen all winter either return to the area or are now venturing out of doors.  The mornings and evenings are cool inviting activity and exercise.  The days are warm, thanks to an amazing sun who shows itself more frequently and whose rays and warmth are actually felt.  There is usually a sweet lake effect breeze that sweeps through town.  Where my parents live 5 miles out the air is often still which makes the warmth of the sun even more substantial and effective.  I love it.
The green grass of the yard; the tall grass, wildflowers and weeds of the meadow behind the house, the trees of the forest that surrounding there home; the isolation I despised as a teenager now comforts me in adulthood.  I love it.
This July 4 was one such idyllic summer day.  As we sat in front of the church my parents pastor on Main Street I thought about how much I truly love this town and those who live here.  The 4th of July parade participants marched along in front of me.  My youngest child, William, sat on my lap.  And as the bagpipes from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada came along, tears were streaming down my cheeks.
I visited my mom's naturopath last week.  She did some talking with me and testing and found that my hormones are out of wack.  "You get upset over the littlest things, don't you?" she asked.  I confirmed this.
She also found that only about 2% of my sleep is deep, reparative REM sleep.  "You must be exhausted!" she empathized.  Again, I was able to confirm this and told her of my irregular sleep patterns.  All in all the visit served to confirm some things I already knew, prove to me I'm not just overly emotional or crazy, to highlight some issues I wasn't aware of and ways to address all of the above.  
So as I sat at the 4th of July parade with tears in my eyes I opened my heart to the bittersweet moment.  "If only I could save time, make a moment last longer than just 'a moment'," I thought.  And with that, the bagpipers had moved on and the race car displayed on the tow truck came along with radio blaring.  My idyllic moment had passed.
As the truck and race car with loud music approached William began to bounce on my lap in rhythm to the music.  I wiped away my tears as I began to laugh with joys the child in my lap showed his enjoyment and contentment in THIS moment.
I realize each moment holds something special for us; gifts wrapped in varied packages.  I don't want to throw away a gift before unwrapping it just because I don't care for the packaging!
Summer in Northern Michigan is fantastic and in some ways I truly wish it could always be summertime there.  But I wouldn't want to forfeit the beauty that comes with the fall, winter and spring in order to maintain summer.  I want all creation has to give and to experience each moment of life open to what it holds.