We took our vacation
this week, spending some time at our family’s summer place on Lake Huron. While it’s great to travel to destinations undiscovered, our annual passage to Michigan’s Thumb is more about visiting familiar places with family and old friends.
Most of our time was spent on the water. After all it is time of the year when warm southerly breezes reveal a side of the lake that can only be seen in mid-July. With the elements receptive to our overtures, we went swimming and waterskiing, cruised the shoreline, and even explored the depths of the Great Lakes.
One afternoon, we sped a couple of miles north and tied off on the beach where my Aunt Joann used to live. We lost her last April along with a thousand family stories she loved to tell – many of which were mostly true. For a young boy, she was a terrific aunt. She lived in the county, had a creek in her yard and a boyfriend named Jim-Bob. And that was good enough for me.
As we walked down the dirt road and stood in front of her house, I told Jesse about the family reunions, the softball games and the hymns that filled the air there every summer. And as we turned to make our way back to the beach, you could almost hear the Methodists singing in her backyard.
When you travel by boat, there’s always something to see. There’s a shipwreck not far from where we go, 12 feet below the surface, about 300 yards off shore. It’s a schooner, lying bottom up, just as it has since 1913. It capsized during a storm that claimed dozens of other ships in what is known as the “Fresh Water Fury.”
And it is something of an attraction. We like to float above it and look down through the water. It never gets old. Neither does my asking other boaters “did you find any buried treasure?” Jesse and I go there whenever we need just a bit of an adventure. But this time, I upped the ante:
“Do you want to touch it?” I asked him.
“Do you?” he answered.
“I will if you will,” I said.
“You go first.” So I did. And then it was his turn. He unzipped his life jacket and dove down to the bottom. From the surface I could see him reach out and touch the keel of the ship that’s been submerged for almost a hundred years. And when he emerged from the water he had a look of both fear and excitement, as if time had brushed against his skin. And in a way, it had.
We touched the past this week as we visited old haunts and the angels and ghosts that we find there. And even though you can’t really go back, you can do your best to remember where you’ve been, the things you’ve done and the people you love; whether they’re here or in the hereafter.
Fred Nahhat is Director of On-Air Fundraising and co-host of “Get Up, Get Out”
this week, spending some time at our family’s summer place on Lake Huron. While it’s great to travel to destinations undiscovered, our annual passage to Michigan’s Thumb is more about visiting familiar places with family and old friends.Most of our time was spent on the water. After all it is time of the year when warm southerly breezes reveal a side of the lake that can only be seen in mid-July. With the elements receptive to our overtures, we went swimming and waterskiing, cruised the shoreline, and even explored the depths of the Great Lakes.
One afternoon, we sped a couple of miles north and tied off on the beach where my Aunt Joann used to live. We lost her last April along with a thousand family stories she loved to tell – many of which were mostly true. For a young boy, she was a terrific aunt. She lived in the county, had a creek in her yard and a boyfriend named Jim-Bob. And that was good enough for me.
As we walked down the dirt road and stood in front of her house, I told Jesse about the family reunions, the softball games and the hymns that filled the air there every summer. And as we turned to make our way back to the beach, you could almost hear the Methodists singing in her backyard.
When you travel by boat, there’s always something to see. There’s a shipwreck not far from where we go, 12 feet below the surface, about 300 yards off shore. It’s a schooner, lying bottom up, just as it has since 1913. It capsized during a storm that claimed dozens of other ships in what is known as the “Fresh Water Fury.”
And it is something of an attraction. We like to float above it and look down through the water. It never gets old. Neither does my asking other boaters “did you find any buried treasure?” Jesse and I go there whenever we need just a bit of an adventure. But this time, I upped the ante:
“Do you want to touch it?” I asked him.
“Do you?” he answered.
“I will if you will,” I said.
“You go first.” So I did. And then it was his turn. He unzipped his life jacket and dove down to the bottom. From the surface I could see him reach out and touch the keel of the ship that’s been submerged for almost a hundred years. And when he emerged from the water he had a look of both fear and excitement, as if time had brushed against his skin. And in a way, it had.
We touched the past this week as we visited old haunts and the angels and ghosts that we find there. And even though you can’t really go back, you can do your best to remember where you’ve been, the things you’ve done and the people you love; whether they’re here or in the hereafter.
Fred Nahhat is Director of On-Air Fundraising and co-host of “Get Up, Get Out”
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