A place on a lake in Michigan

My sister Susan, a high-powered scientist who has lived in and traveled to beautiful places all over the world, told the story.  Her workout group of equally high-powered and disciplined sorts was trading stories about where they’d live if they could live anywhere.  An atelier in Paris – a beach in Fiji – a Manhattan co-op . . .

“On a lake in Michigan,” said one woman. My sister was impressed. She came to visit me.  She wanted to understand why someone who could live anywhere would choose a place on a lake in Michigan.  Here are some reasons.  There are others, of course.

You can keep a boat on a dock in your back yard.

You can waterski right in the neighborhood.

You can just sit and look.  And even when you’re not there, you know the lake is still there.  You can hear it.

You can watch a gull soaring through a stormy sky.

You can buy a fishing license at the neighborhood bait shop and think about going fishing.

You become intimately acquainted with many shades of blue.

When your life enters troubled seas, you have a life raft.