A Birthday!

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I will be spending it in one of my very favorite places with some of my very favorite people. Macatawa is a family tradition, and one that actually goes pretty far back. My grandma's family used to come up from hot and humid St. Louis and spend the entire summer on the lake. Years later, she kept up the tradition with her own family, renting the cottage "Tim Buck II" for a month. The memory-making continued with my immediate family. I was introduced to Macatawa before my first birthday, and since that time, many more summers and, in fact, birthdays, have been spent there.

Maggie, Mom, Gus, and I at Mac

A week in Holland, Michigan always includes lots of time on the beach: reading, walking, climbing dunes, making sandcastles, enjoying the fresh breeze and warmth of the sun. Depending on the direction of the wind, the temperature of the water, and the size of the waves, we may be in the water a lot or just enough to cool off. We have a number of favorite restaurants in town, and we often go out for an evening meal. We visit Russ' at least once in the week. Then there's usually a morning of shopping, a movie, and almost always a trip to Saugatuk that includes blueberry picking and an ice cream cone.

Lake Michigan with Big Red in the background

These are the memories and the traditions that we have come to love as a family. As an older teen, I remember seeing couples on the beach and wishing that I also had someone special to share this place with. (Ok, my family is special, but you know what I mean.) I remember standing at the end of the pier and thinking, Someday, maybe I will stand here and share this familiar, much-loved view with the man I love. It's odd how some moments and the accompanying thoughts are as photographs in the mind. That's a moment, a photograph, that I remember distinctly. And now is the someday! I finally get to share with my husband this place that has so many memories for me. No doubt we'll make a few of our own memories here this week.