michigan – Page 2 – words from wick

I’m still getting used to it.

I grew up living most of my life on M-50. That stands for “Michigan-50”, as in a “high-way”. We had a large front lawn, so don’t imagine it so close to the road the truckers could throw their drinks at my window. But do imagine cars and trucks whizzing by at 60+ MPH while we waited for our bus at the end of the driveway. Much of the school year in coooold Michigander temperatures. It was awesome. Stars seemed they were always visible.

We knew our immediate neighbors. We rode our bikes for hours up and down our driveway (Not to brag, but it was the only one nearby that was completely paved). In high school, we were robbed by the senior higher who lived a few doors down from us. We watched the fire department accidentally drive through a closed door, and every so often a traveling group of Indians would set up their teepees in the field across the highway. In the 20 minutes we waited for the bus, often we pretended we were Ninja Turtles (I was usually Michaelangelo, because I love eating pizza and saying “Dude”. He was usually Leonardo, because he’s a natural leader and genius.) before we hopped on the bus for the 1.5 hour trek around horror-movie-inspiring cornfields picking up all the other students who lives “outside of town”. You could say it was a pretty normal place to live.

I remember when our city, Eaton Rapids, was about to have it’s very own McDonald’s restaurant open. The excitement was building for months as we saw the holy structure take form. The date was set for opening. It was only about 1.4 miles away, but it was 1.4 miles of M-50. Intimidating? Nah. My older brother was with me. Plus…we wanted to be among the first to taste the amazing goodness that was fast food, and enjoy the coming-of-age experience of a bike ride to food without adults.

It was a pretty great place to grow. I’m thankful for it.

Where I live now is more an Avenue than highway.

If a car comes down the cobblestone street going faster than 15 MPH, I stand up and give them my stern-serious look. If we forget sour cream, we can run out to get it and be back in a few minutes. Our kids play together. We celebrate holidays together, and call the cops on each other. (Lovingly, of course.) There are streetlamps on both sides of our street, straight out of some old-time movie. If the kids on our street aren’t homeschooled, they can walk down the block to school each morning.

It’s still a bit new to me, this living in closer community. Where we could walk most places we need to get to within an easy stroll. Trick-or-Treat season finds mini-vans from all over the city dropping off a load of kids to wander around begging sugar from door-to-door. We share a water provider, and a sewer system. It’s a pretty intimate deal. Much of this might simply be adult-hood, but I know the names of most of the families up and down both sides of my street. We pray for them. We hope that somehow God’s Love will be known and experienced by the ways that we connect in relationship…whether they know Him already or not. We draw with sidewalk chalk and play hop scotch and wave at the elderly man who grows herbs in his basement year-round (legal ones).

You can’t always see the stars very well.

But the people sure are great.

Last week we took the family “tent-camping” at Warren Dunes State Campground, just over the south-western border into Michigan. I grew up visiting those dunes, and frequently took trips even in college. It was a special trip I’d been wanting to make with our girls for quite sometime. Here are a few highlights:

1. Conquered the Rain-Fly. Seriously, we all know the number one pain of all tent-camping is getting the tent to fit back in the bag. The number two pain? Figuring out the rain fly. I patted myself on the back every time I looked at our tent those 3 days. Even hung some Christmas lights.

2. I let my wife plan meals. That means, instead of eating Pop-tarts for breakfast and raw Ramen for dinner…we had “hobo dinners” and scrambled eggs/sausage. Sure, it meant bringing quite a few more supplies than I would’ve packed. But my mouth and stomach weren’t complaining. You’ve had S’mores; but have you had a roasted banana filled with peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallow, and sprinkled with crushed Golden Grahams? Also, if you’ve done the “meat/cheese/potato/onion/carrot” thing for hobo dinners…next time try “polish sausage/sauerkraut/carrots/potatoes”. It was crazy good.

3. Sunscreen works, everywhere you apply it. We spent most of Friday at the beach, with me in the water. You could see visibly where my hands couldn’t reach on my back….bright red. My 5 year old said, “Dad, next time I’ll put it on your back.” And on Labor Day….she did. Gently…daddy still hurts. Thankfully our girls have mommy’s skin.

4. Disney Movies happen every day. I climbed a giant sand dune with my two oldest daughters. When we reached the top and looked back, mommy was staying with Ruby about halfway up. At 4 years old (daughter, not mom), she was struggling hard..naturally. They were going to turn back and wait for us at the bottom, but I wanted the family to enjoy the top together. So I ran halfway down, put our daughter on my sunburned back, and hiked her up the rest of the dune on my hands and knees. The cross-country team gathered at the top began applauding, and I heard inspirational music in the background as I carried her all the way up. I’m pretty sure I injured something, and completely sure the picture was worth it.

5. Sleeping outside can surprise you. There were definitely raccoons that waited for our site to get dark each night. We heard them explore our picnic table after we went to bed. We took turns having knee-jerk reactions to what we thought was an animal in our tent at 2am…both times smiling at how silly we were reacting to a clingy little girl sleeping next to us. It’s great being “alone” with my wife in a world of little people camping. So many things that brought smiles to our faces…I love sharing life with this woman!! 🙂

6. God’s Creation sure is good. We sat on a blanket as the sun began to lower, reading a kids book on sand and how it’s made. We climbed giant dunes, and looked out over miles of forest one direction, and miles of lake the other. We hiked through thick woods to use the restroom, each time stumbling as a daughter would pause the world to appreciate the beauty of a fallen leaf’s colors. I held a giant inflated tube as it coasted over small lake waves, as my 4 year old daughter soaked up the sun, falling asleep far away from shore – simply because she trusted her father. Our girls oooh’d and ahhhh’d over hundreds of rocks, as we searched for petoskey stones, reminding me that God’s beauty is in so much more than we’re looking for…