I moved to Traverse City for work in April 2023, so this has been the second time I’ve watched Leelanau County’s cherry trees blossom. It’s been wonderful watching the buds on the trees diffuse into what seem to be fluffy clouds rolling over the hills. I wish the trees wouldn’t shed their white petals so quickly and I could see them reflected in the water from across Suttons Bay all summer.
I’ve been trying to take the time to enjoy the warmer weather and beauty of the little peninsula. Spending time outdoors has provided a nice respite from reporting on local government and following (inter)national news. But I’ve been struggling with the unusually frequent rain showers that we’ve been getting this month.
One day recently, my plans to ride on the Leelanau Trail were frustrated by rain. I’d rather have been outside on my bicycle, but I found myself at my desk at home, hearing the muffled sound of raindrops falling and watching them slide down my apartment’s window and gathering in the ground on the first floor outside.
Focusing on these little details seemed to take me back to when I was 4 or 5 and I was sitting outside on the front porch of my childhood home downstate, shielded from some heavy rainfall. My mom was there, too. She had encouraged me to come outside and sit with her as she took in the sounds and smell of the rain.
Mom passed away about seven years ago now, on May 25, 2017. She hasn’t been there to see a lot of my life; graduating from college, living and working in journalism across the state of Michigan, the people I’ve met along the way. I miss her, and often find myself wondering how she would respond to some stories I could have shared with her.
Writing about it now, though, I wonder if her ability to find the positives in things like rainy days — not coincidentally a common idiom for times of trouble — may have not only helped me prepare for losing her, but also for dealing with the challenges and setbacks of life.
About a week ago, we celebrated Mother’s Day. It sometimes feels like we celebrate the holiday only for living parents, but for me, and likely many of our readers, it can also be an occasion to remember positive things about the mother figures who are no longer with us.
