Back in the days when I was a lot younger and drunk constantly, me and my friends had a tradition. Every once in a while we would get liquored up and trek half way across the state to make sure Lake Michigan was still there. We haven\t done that in many years now. It used to be such a big deal to break in new members of our group by making the trip. We would party half the night then set off on our mission and take the party on the road.
My roommate just bought a new Gladiator and is constantly wanting to go some where. Last night I thought we had made plans to do something and when I asked him about it he thought for a second and said " Wanna go see if lake Michigan is still there?".
Neither of us drink any more and our friends circles have severely diminished but it still sounded like something we should probably do. So we hoped into his truck, hit the gas station for traveling snacks and headed out. It's a 2 1/2 hour drive over on the highway doing the speed limit.
We got close and got off the highway and started weaving the back roads trying to find a road side park. After about 10 minutes we found one. There were about 10 cars in the parking lot so I figured it would be crowded and I don't do crowds well any more.
Oh yeah. Did I mention I HATE sand. I don't just hate it I really f#cking hate it. It feels horrible on your skin. It gets every where and doesn't brush off easy. But we found the sand path that lead down to the water and started to trudge through. We only had to walk about two minutes and around a corner to reveal the huge and spectacular view of a most mesmerizing body of water I have ever had the privilege of seeing.
There is just something so cool about this massive body of water that differs some how from the ocean. It's something I think has helped me keep things in perspective in some way in the past. Maybe it is as simple as feeling so small compared to it and all of my problems being more insignificant than they seem otherwise. Maybe it's the comfort of feeling that there are things in this world that never change and you can count on that. I don't know but I do know that every time we have made the quest in the past I felt like I had accomplished something big. Significant. Completed an important task.
As it turned out there were only 9 people at the beach. Three were walking out on our way in and there were two couples, one of which left as we stepped onto the beach and 2 girls way down at the other end looking for rocks. So no crowd to deal with.
No matter the the reason for feeling motivated to make the trip occasionally it has some therapeutic affect. I went and made sure Lake Michigan was still there and it was.
@Lostpoet I wonder what it is about nature that seems to re-seat our feet on the ground. Like people that go camping do it for the same reason I think. I don't know, but even tho I got a bunch of sand in my shoes I still feel like I did something important yesterday.
@Dainbramadge I think we are satisfying something that's deep into our nature as humans when we spend time out in nature. We used to survive out there.
I liked this piece by you. Continue taking such breaks to not only rejuvenuate but importantly to reflect over stuff which otherwise feels like a huge mountain.
Stay kind to self and keep loving your kids like another Doting Dad.
@sspec that's funny that you would bring that part up. Most of the conversation that we had while we were driving was about taking the kids with us. So we just may be making that trip again next weekend so they can go along. It's funny we drove two and a half hours over and spent 10 minutes on the beach and then drove two and a half hours home. LOL I'm sure if we take the boys it will last longer.
@Dainbramadge Yes, the whole purpose is bonding and feeling better to deal with just whatever. Such stuff wud help your kids too apart from enjoying their dad's circle n learning life closely.
One of the best times I ever had was driving to Jones Beach as a hurricane breezed by off shore ...the was were super huge *insert surf music* and it was wonderful seeing the force of nature at a safe distance;even the sky was a threatening color
