Can I Have A Moment, Please?

Lake Superior at Crisp Point

Sometimes, I just need a moment.  Maybe I need that moment to take a deep breath before I say something I shouldn't, or a moment to have a hissy fit wile I rant and rage and let out my frustration.  Most times, though, I need a moment to just be silent.  This usually involves sitting on a high bluff at the edge of the woods overlooking Lake Superior, which is where I plan to someday build my stone cottage and live out my days sitting on my bluff overlooking Lake Superior. And chopping firewood.

A couple of years ago, when I was going through a rough time, I started this blog as a catharsis of sorts, where I shared my moments of peace found while traveling in a vintage Airstream.  My tin can let me go places I had dreamed of my whole life.  I enjoyed sharing my stories so much, that I want to do more.  But life still intervenes and keeps me from traveling often enough to write about it full time.  I spent a considerable amount of time this summer thinking about how I could develop my blog when I only travel a few times a year.  I also spent a considerable amount of time this summer not writing, because the two dogs, two cats, husband, kids, and all their friends were a constant energy in the house that prevented me from writing.

I may have spent the first month of summer feeling frustrated and wishing more than anything that I could have just one hour to write, except I had nothing but my frustration to write about, and who wants to read that?  I may have let that feeling go on, except that I really enjoy being a positive person more than a negative one.  My good friend, Debbie, who shares so many of my adventures, reminded me, "it is what it is".  It was summer, and everyone was home.  I gave up trying to write (which also goes against my nature)  and started looking for the positive.  I found it.

Gotcha, Suzy!

In each day, somewhere in the chaos and noise and demands, I had a moment.  Suzy the Cat began a habit of climbing up the ladder to my daughter's bunk bed and stealing her stuffed frog animal.  I would find that frog in the oddest places, pick it up and return it to the bed, only to find it again in a new place the next day.  It became a game with me and my daughters.
Where would Suzy put the frog today?

There was a moment each morning, when my youngest daughter, The Wise One, would walk into the kitchen while I was having my second pot of coffee and sleepily murmur, "Good morning, Mom" followed by a hug.  It's always good to start your day with a fond greeting and a warm hug.  We would then proceed to place our bets for what item my older daughter, Birdie, would announce she needed to get from Target that day.  Birdie went to Target almost every day.  It's a disease, as is spending her paycheck before she gets another one.  We're working on that.

The couch is NOT for you, Rooney!

I had other moments, as well.  I rarely left the house this summer.  Why would I, when Birdie would be going to Target anyway and could pick up what I needed?  But a few times we met up with friends for an evening, giving me moments of laughter and companionship.  I watched my son, Fun Boy, growing into a fine young man this summer, who worked hard at his job all day and cheerfully helped out around the house.  I had many moments with Rooney the Newfoundland, but those are best left
unmentioned in my efforts to remain positive.  I settled in this summer, and while I admit I still had day after day of being frustrated with no peace, no time, and no privacy, I embraced that moment each day when my heart would warm with delight over my family and friends.

The Tin Can at Muskallonge Lake

This new-found emphasis on finding the good each day, taking the moments that were given to me and holding them, gave me some ideas on the direction my blog might take once school started and I had time again to write.  I have stories from a few trips I took this summer, but I need more.  Perhaps, instead of only writing periodically about my adventures in the tin can, I could fill my time with sharing the moments I find each and every day that give me peace beyond of the tin can.

Stop spinning, Rooney!

I already had one of those moments this morning.  In preparing for my upcoming escape to the mountains, I have been brushing Rooney's thick and unruly fur every morning, trying to loosen as much hair as possible before we go so my tin can doesn't accumulate an entirely new floor covering.  Rooney is pretty tolerant of being groomed, usually standing still until I tell him he can go.  However, this morning, I wanted to focus on his enormous tail, and he didn't like that so much.  I had to hold him by the collar with one hand and try to brush his tail with the other, while he kept spinning away from me.  He would spin, I would follow, he would spin again, I would follow again.  Long before I even made a dent in the massive amounts of hair on his tail, I became dizzy until I finally fell down and gave up.  See?  I told you moments with Rooney detract from my personal goal of being positive.  But at least these days, my house is quieter and I am finding time to think, write, and dream.

My son has returned to the University and is contemplating changing his major during his 3rd year.  I'm sure several moments will result from that.  The Wise One has entered Middle School and taken up running, following in the footsteps of her older sister.  Cross Country Meets are a great place for peaceful moments.  Birdie has moved to the big city to begin her Freshman year of nursing school, and gave me a really nice moment last week.  She called home and asked me if I had ever taken a Philosophy course in college.  I told her not only had I taken several, I taught Philosophy for many years at the college level.  She was surprised and duly impressed.  It's not often I can impress my children.  It was a really good moment.

Starting today, I plan to write often about my moments, good and bad, at home and in the tin can.  My goal is to connect with readers on a most basic level.  There are good days and bad days, ups and downs, and within each day is a moment to remember.  Sharing my moments with you will hopefully touch you so that you know you are not alone.  We can all love those peaceful moments together, and learn to laugh at ourselves during those not-so-peaceful moments.  Never forget, Rooney will be laughing at all of us during every moment.  He's good at that.

Have a spectacular day, and thanks for reading my blog!  

I'm Baaaacccckkkk! Well, Almost

I have not gone missing.   My hands were not chopped off in a horrible accident that prevents me from writing.  I did not lose interest in writing this blog, or become creativity challenged, or get another job.  The fact is, I haven't been writing, because I still put my family first.

It has been a very busy summer.  Even if I wasn't the kind of mom to be involved with my kids every day, there is still quite a bit of commotion at my house, which makes it difficult to write, and I did not want to spend most of my summer away when two of my three kids are going off to college next week.    But I have managed to get to the U.P of Michigan a couple of times this summer, and as always, I have many adventures to write about.  Just not quite yet.

I also had an idea in the back of my mind all summer, and I've let it grow in its own time, to the point where I am ready to take this idea and run with it.  I love to explore Michigan, and usually will pick a State campground I've not yet visited, to expand my knowledge and experience of this beautiful state.  Since I have been to so many different State Parks, I have an itch to start cataloging my experiences at each location, and compile a collection of useful information for readers who would like to try a new place for exploring or camping.  The collection will include real photos of State campgrounds, not just the pretty ones on the DNR website, so campers will have an idea ahead of time what to expect.  Also will be my recommendations for places to go in the area, with descriptions, and stories of the colorful characters I seem to meet wherever I go.

I have long needed a focus for my blog, and while I have been writing for the last two years about the places I go, I want to organize my words into a format that would be easy for readers to find information about places they are interested in visiting.  Of course, this also means I have to make a serious commitment to spending at least a couple of nights in every State Park, even the ones in which I have no interest.  The fact is, no matter where I go in Michigan, I always find some unexpected wonderful thing, so I would be broadening my own horizons as well.

Lake Michigan, Manisitque, Michigan

But before I can begin to put all my thoughts together and figure out how I will approach this project, I have to get my kids off to school, which will happen in the next couple of weeks.  As I am packing up to head home from Indian Lake, I have two very busy weeks ahead of me at home, and I am looking forward to helping my kids prepare for new phases in their own lives.  But once September comes (isn't that a line from a song?) I will be ready to start a new phase of my own, and I hope you will keep checking back to see how it's coming along.  I love Michigan, I am always amazed at what it has to offer, and I would love to find a way to inspire others to get out and explore!

So bye for now, I will see you in September.