Michigan……. My Michigan
Gotta say I love this state. Yeah I know things are tough around here, not a financial picnic at my house either. But I believe we are very resilient people in this state. We’ve been through tough times before and though I don’t expect we’ll see the prosperity we had 5 years ago, we will survive. Been alot of folks that have left here to head to other parts of the country to make a living, feed their families. Far be it from me to think any less of someone taking care of their families. My family did the same once before too, but we just couldn’t stay away from our Michigan.
Back in 1982 I was just out of college and things were not great here then either. My wife had family in Colorado and there were jobs to be had there so off we went. Packed everything we could into our 2 cars and headed west. We both found jobs out there, definately weren’t getting rich by any means, but working at least. We wound up calling Georgetown Colorado our temporary home. Beautiful place, 10000′ up in the Colorado Rockies. We rented a ski condo there and commuted 120 miles a day back and forth from Denver, where we worked. Would have been nice to have lived closer to our jobs but couldn’t afford any place near Denver. It was a nice time out there, different than Michigan, mostly rocks, pine trees and white water. It took us about 6 months to come to the realization we were existing, but not happy. Yeah we had food on the table and the wolf wasn’t knocking at the door, but this just wasn’t home. We made a decision that the view wasn’t worth the climb, and back to Michigan we came.
Again we packed our 2 little cars to the roof with all we could and headed east. Believe me it was a long hot ride going across the great plains in the middle of the summer. I swear Iowa was just a long green tunnel of sweltering cornfields. Long about the second afternoon of driving we came into the southwest part of Michigan, a bit north of Chicago. It was a typical hot muggy July afternoon, temps about 90. Low and behold I saw a sign that told of beaches on Lake Michigan!! I could not get that little car off the freeway quick enough and immediately headed for the lake. To this day I have no idea what the name of that town or beach was, but I can tell you within seconds after arriving at the beach parking lot I was standing neck deep in MY LAKE MICHIGAN!!
That was in 1982, and I’ve not left since. This is my state, my woods, lakes, rivers, fields and hills. Say what you like about your favorite places to visit, but for me I’m just snug as a bug in a rug right here in MY MICHIGAN!! We’ll get through these tough times, of that I have no doubt. At the end of the day, Good Lord willing, I’ll be right here watching the sun slowly set over MY MICHIGAN!!!
Posted: February 3rd, 2010.