My Life of What Ifs

Monday, August 3, 2009

Heaven on Earth


I’m starting to think that following my dreams included returning to tradition. But I mentioned that right? These past nine months have allowed me time to do things I haven't done since I was a kid. But it’s also allowed me to remember how to value and truly enjoy things I have always done.

Since 2002 we have spent the first week of August camping on Drummond Island, off the eastern coast of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. We spend the week with five other couples and their eight kids. This results in six couples, and ten kids- nine girls and one boy.

My friend Tammey grew up on the island, and she and her husband Joe own property there now. We park our campers and set up our tents to make a large circle and for week we relax, eat, swim, two-track through the woods, have a few drinks and enjoy the simple life. The ten kids, ranging in age from 15 to five, make “houses” and open “stores” in the woods. They ride their bikes, pick wildflowers, play ghost tag, and have nightly s’mores. The guys fish, the girls read magazines and try new recipes. We play hillbilly horseshoes, “cornhole” and scrabble.

It’s quiet for the most part, except for when one of the five dogs is barking or when the iPod is on and we can hear about 30 seconds of a song before someone else thinks of a better one to play.

The sunsets are phenomenal and the sky is so clear that the stars seem within reach. Sitting around the nightly bonfire it’s common to see several shooting stars, and a satellite orbiting on by. Cell phones don’t work on the property, we you can go in town to send a blog post or a quick email. That need for technology does negate the simplicity, but it does allow a freelance writer to stay in touch, and post on her blog.

All in all it’s the best vacation ever. You pay for gas and a week’s worth of food with a high cholesterol content, and you come home with a lot of laundry and much less tension in your neck. It’s heaven, or at least as close to it as you’ll find on this side of life.
Stacy

1 comment:

suzanneelizabeths.com said...

It sounds absolutely magical!