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Ohana

As the season draws to a close, I can’t help but feel grateful. It’s been decades since I was able to spend so much time up north in Michigan. My best friend, Katie, was home from her tour in Jordan, allowing for face time unlike anything we’ve been able to do in years. I have plenty of complaints about working in education, but I’m reminded how fortunate I am, at least for now, that I can spend this time every summer to unwind and go back to my roots.

It’s no secret that I feel restless in my current location. The weight of the DC metro lifestyle pushes down on my spirit daily. This is not the place for me the thrive. However, this is where I am. This is where I will be. For now. And, until that changes, family visits and road trips to Michigan will do just fine.

We’re spread all over the continent these days; rarely ever in one place at one time. But we’ll always have Michigan. After all, in my family, no one gets left behind.

Or forgotten.

To slow down…

There is something fresh and still about Northern Michigan. The air smells clean, the soil feels alive and the sounds of nature, without fail, evoke a spiritual renewal. Alex says I am a different person when we go there. Me, the most anxiety filled person in the universe, I slow down.

Our recent road trip to Michigan was a whirlwind. We weren’t even there for one week. To be honest, we weren’t certain we would actually be going until 6 hours before we left. Our drive up took extra long thanks to a late night storm in Pittsburgh that stranded us in a hotel room for the night. All of this is without mentioning that summer vacation had barely begun (the work day hadn’t even ended). But we had people to visit and memories to make…. and my mom hasn’t looked happier.

And a group pic with my mom and Jim at their local wattering hole, Shorts Brewery, located conviently within stumbling-home-by-foot distance to their new house.

Filed under Wanderlust Life and Social Life*