Somewhere Far From Here

I love this photo. I especially love this photo right now. It was taken about six months ago, on the fourth of July. It was a day that was about 80 degrees warmer than today, which is to say it was 80 degrees that day. It is bitterly cold in Chicago right now, but this photo takes me back to a sunny day spent with my family on a lake in western Michigan.

My family has gone to this particular house on this particular lake for many Fourths. It belongs to friends that my parents have known since high school. We have a lot of memories associated with that lake. I remember the year my dad cut his ear sailing the Hobie cat and had to get stitches. I remember the Fourth a storm swept across the lake so quickly we almost lost our tent to the elements. I remember several frustrating games of tether ball with my sister (I just couldn't win!). Memorable also was the summer my dad got a bunch of illegal fireworks and lit them off over the lake. As kids, we used to color the "Happy Fourth of July" sign every summer. We were greeted by one of these relic signs this year (with dot matrix lines still intact). I could pick out my wobbly, bubbly markings on the "4."

I loved going to the lake this year because it was the first time in quite a few years that my entire family made it. Mike and I came from Chicago, and my parents and sister's family came separately from the Detroit-area. We had a fabulous time, and I hope my nephews associate that lake and the fourth of July with happy memories like I do.

This photo above was made possible by my six-year-old nephew Jordan. He went hunting for snails in the lake and started lining up the empty shells on the dock. He aligned them just so. So perfect to my eye that they were photo-worthy.