Lake thoughts

As a young man I spent many of my summers at my grandparents house on the lake. I would swim, and fish and would on occasion when my cousin was there to accompany me take the canoe for a spin. I recall how my grandmother, a women who never learned to swim to spite her love for the water, would sit under the shade tree not far from the shore and watch us play.

I am recalling these memories because this last weekend I went with some friends to Lake Michigan. We walked on the trails, climbed the dunes, stood in awe of the majesty of the lake. We kicked off our shoes and walked along the shore ( it was of course to cold for me to swim). I felt the wind on my back and the sprinkling of cold lake water on my face and I couldn't help but think that for all of it's faults, the harsh winters, the constant road construction, and of course the election of democrats to state wide office. This may be one of the loveliest places in the world to live. As one who grew up here It took me leaving and seeing a foreign land to truly appreciate it.

I recall last summer as I sat in a guard tower in Iraq looking out on a land that was flat and lacking in character (geographically of course). Just how much I missed my midwestern home. How much I missed the rustic corn fields and snowy hills. I also missed the lakes and the rivers, it was on there shores that so much of my childhood was spent. Celebrating in the summer time, swimming, fishing, sleding in the winter.

So now that I literally live within a stones throw of many lakes I can appreciate it. I can take in its beauty and be renewed by it's waves. I look forward to the rest of summer, to the days by the lake, to the smell of the water and the battle with the fish. That is my idea of heaven.