Wednesday, October 5, 2016

In which it is July in Michiana.




This summer, I spent three weeks in various parts of the US, spending time with family and friends and this beautiful, glowy thing called sunlight. The first major chunk of the trip took place in Indiana and southern Michigan, first at the music camp that so positively affected my life from middle school onwards. My brother is still working there, as are many good friends, and my parents, sister-in-law, and niece were all there visiting at the same time. It was an overwhelming day and a half and nigh on impossible to get in the amount of quality time with everyone that I so deeply wanted, as has usually been the case since making my life abroad. Still, it was something, and I am so grateful for that. 

After that avalanche of jetlag and All The Feelings, my parents and I said goodbyes and headed north to see my grandmother, traveling through several hours of Indiana on the way.













Is this what the sky always looks like over Walmart?



Thus began several days of family reunion in northern Indiana and at a gorgeous camp in southern Michigan.The family involved was that of my downright amazing paternal grandmother, her siblings, and all their descendants. This meant a very fun and full few days with her, my parents, and aunts, uncles, and cousins of varying degrees, my immediate family of whom I had not seen in years and the most of the rest of whom I had never met. Oh, and one of my friends from Hamburg had also decided to come along for fun, so we picked him up along the way and enjoyed incorporating him in the family as well. But srsly, what a special time. I assumed my relations (hailing from all over the country) were probably a fun bunch of people, and I was so pleased to finally meet them. Cool, creative, compassionate -- what a treat to have had this time together, to have learned about our family history, and strengthened our connections.

The camp itself where the 40 or so of us gathered was pretty magical, and had some beautiful walking trails and boardwalks. The lake offered much-needed refreshment from the heatwave and I was thrilled to go kayaking with Dad for the first time since leaving Maine.


















An early morning stroll:



 















And a morning full of clouds:


The weekend had to end eventually, and with many goodbyes the family loaded into cars and spread itself back out across the country, glad for the time together and somewhat mellowed by the uncertainty of when we might all next meet again. Luckily a large contingent of my immediate family got to spend one more evening together back at home base in Indiana, which I greatly treasured.

That time, too, came to an end the next morning, and before we knew it, my parents, Hamburg friend and I were driving south to the airport and then flying over fields and farms to dry, dusty deserts, through storm systems and clouds of all kinds, finally landing under a dramatic New Mexico sky for the start of the next adventure.





















More on that later.