Flyin’ down the southwest side of M-22 with my arm out the window and a fresh March breeze hitting my face is all I need to put a smile on my face.
I make a stop at Good Harbor Beach and there are people watching the most beautiful sunset (like them all) while enjoying each other’s company.
As I peer out across the glass waters, my mind is blissful and reminiscent of the past three years since moving to the Leelanau Peninsula.
This month I celebrate three years at the Leelanau Enterprise. And one thing is for sure, my love for cherries certainly tops that of finding an affordable home. Nevertheless, I’ve made some awesome friends within this community and memories I will cherish for a million lifetimes.
Can someone please slow this train down? It’s an absolute honor to get to know the various communities in Leelanau County that allows us to tell their small-town stories and welcome us into their homes and spaces.
Ever since I was a little kid I held the newspaper in my hand wanting to write in print, and I’m glad to say in 2024 we are continuing that dream to write for a newspaper. All I heard going through college was newspapers are dead, and at least in Leelanau County, they couldn’t be more wrong.
Although our online presence continues to grow, it’s nice to see a local paper still covering local issues after seeing my hometown paper be gutted and filled with regional and national news that has little to zero impact and relevance on a local community.
Making it on the peninsula hasn’t been easy, but nothing worth having in life comes easy. You have to be resourceful and have a balance between risk taking and conservation.
I’m still proud of where I came from but it sure doesn’t beat here. Plus it gives the family several brief vacations a year.
I really thought it would be a long shot to make it work in a place like Leelanau, but I’m more confident than ever that no matter where the road leads, it is myself that determines the outcome. There are many challenges that lie ahead but the constant grind awaits and I don’t have much time.
When I lay in bed, the hundreds of articles come shuffling through my mind. All the successes I tend to keep upfront, and the mistakes in a graveyard of the mind to learn from.
Congratulations to all of the 2024 winter sports teams on an incredible and entertaining season.
Things may have not ended how you wanted, but the life lessons learned through each win and loss is something to take with you. But dwell on the negative for more than a moment.
Whenever I’m having difficulty in life this poem by Charles Bukowski titled “Roll the Dice” is a piece of motivation that I hold near to my heart.
“If you’re going to try, go all the way, otherwise don’t even start. If you’re going to try, go all the way. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs and maybe your mind.
Go all the way. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail, it could mean derision, mockery, isolation.
Isolation is the gift, all the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And you’ll do it despite rejection and the worst odds and it will be better than anything else you can imagine.
If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods and the nights will flame with fire. Do it, do it, do it. All the way, all the way. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter, it’s the only good fight there is.”
Thank you Rick Herman A couple of days ago, I made the silly mistake of running out of gas on the way to the gym on Center Highway Road in Suttons Bay. I shuffled into some running gear to make a couple-mile jog to the gas station. I jogged about 50 yards saw a house and thought “It’s worth a shot.” I rang the doorbell and I was answered with the kindness of a stranger. Thank you Rick Herman for helping me out and giving me a ride to the gas station. I hope you enjoy your Upper Peninsula adventures this summer.
