I know I’ve written about my love affair with Harbor Springs before, but since it’s part of the tour, I wasn’t going to let it go by without a few words. When I was planning my move across the country I wasn’t quite sure where Harbor Springs was going to fit in. Would I try to go after camp? Just go for a few days for Sarah’s wedding? But when I found out that the family would be honoring Mrs. Keller, who was an absolute legend and an honor to even be in the company of, with a celebration of her life, I knew I had to zig when I should have zagged and made my way up and over from Charlotte. For so many reasons, I am so glad I did. Twenty plus years of visiting this place and it has yet to lose its magic.
A day before even getting here, Georgia, the youngest of the family and quite possibly one of my favorite people in the world was sending me “spotted” pictures. It’s a little bit of a tradition of ours, well mostly hers making fun of me. Whenever she spots the boat of this guy I used to “date” many years ago, she will send me photos of it. And really, I am not sure you can even call it dating as in reality, 6 dates in the Harbor Springs bubble is equivalent to maybe 1 and a half in the real world. But anyway it was a fun and funny “Welcome back to Harbor Springs”
In the first 45 minutes of arriving in Harbor Springs, I’d reunited with an old friend for a quick hug before being whisked off to “family dinner”. While I think of them as my second family, I also knew that their real family would be in town for the memorial and they might not need an extra guest. I was met with a barrage of “absolutely not you are family.” and so I stayed. Porch life is a thing here in Michigan. One does not simply use their porch for sitting. Here it is used to catch up with an old friend, have cocktails before dinner and sometimes to put all the tables you have together and throw a Perch on the Porch dinner party. It’s weird, not that I’ve ever been in a place where I could have my own home, but from coming up here, I think the first thing I would look for in a house is a porch and to make sure it has room for all of these wonderful human interactions to happen. We capped the first night in Harbor Springs off with Badminton until it got dark and 4 cartons of Ice Cream!
Part of me wanted to sleep in the next morning and let my body revel in the idea that for the next 6 days my car and items in my car would be completely safe. As I traveled around this past month, I realized that a small piece of me was always tense and wondering if when I’d get to my car in the morning if it would have been broken into. Every time anyone’s alarm went off, I’d assume it was mine, but being too scared to go out and check I’d wave my keys from some hotel window and hope it would turn off. One night, I might have googled, “How easy is it to steal a Subaru” after someone’s (not mine I later realized) alarm kept going off. I’m not sure what I thought that would do for my anxiety, but I can strongly say it was not positive.
Even though I wanted to stay in bed, Harbor Springs was waiting. It sure wasn’t going to run itself on my favorite route through the woods and then downtown for an iced tea to walk back with. I had to shake off the sleeps and get moving.
When you run in Harbor Springs, you might as well be running a race. And not because you need to be going so fast, but everyone in their own little way is cheering you on. Whether it’s the little guy on the strider bike telling you to “run, run” or the dozens of cheerful, “mornings” accompanied by waves, your spirit is just lifted. And if you’re lucky on your walk back one of your friends and their children will be outside almost ready to start the day but not quite because they are still in their jammies. I got this kind of lucky and got to spend a solid 45 minutes or so catching up with these friends while their 3 year old schooled me in our heated match of over the path tennis. I kid you not, he’s amazing and also told me, “I’m better than you because I practice.” It always makes me so happy when I see kids actually playing outside and getting to join in on that play is even better.
As I mentioned my main purpose for this visit was Mrs. Keller’s celebration of life. And what a life it was to celebrate. One of my favorite things about Mrs. Keller was her way to pull you into one of her amazing life experiences. I will forever remember her riding her bike…right up until she was 91 and throwing you a cheerful “yoohoo” your way. Over the weekend of stories shared, I found out that not only was she still out on the golf course into her 90’s but on her 90th birthday she shot an Eagle on the 7th hole at the Wequetonsing Golf Club. This gives me about 50 years to try and catch up to that amazing feat. The message that I think everyone left with after the service, was to welcome people into your life the way Mrs. Keller did, whether it was on to her porch or into her heart she had a way of making everyone feel important and welcome.
One morning I was trying to not only go for a run but also catch up with my dear friend Katie before her family went out on the boat to watch the Regatta races. As they were getting ready to go her husband Ravi just assumed I was coming with them and when I said, I wasn’t they all said why not? I didn’t have a reason and was happy to join them. Katie kidded me with a “The only thing is we won’t have a Gurney’s for you.” I jokingly said I had to decline but then quickly raced back home to get my suit, sunscreen, and some snacks from my car to be my lunch. We had a fabulous day on the water filled with catching up, catching some sun and some fabulous Dad jokes from Katie’s dad. He’s still got it! Oh yeah, and the races were pretty amazing too!
One of the key factors in why I love my time in Michigan so much is because I get to spend time with Georgia. She and I began our “friendship” when she was 5 and I was 19. She will tell you she was 4 but I’ve done the math and I don’t think that’s right;) We’ve grown from me telling her to make her bed before she goes out to late-night walks about our lives. On this trip, it was no different. Some nights we found ourselves walking and then deciding to go swimming. Others we ended up wet because we stayed out so late that the sprinklers came on! And some we found ourselves wrapped up in board games until late into the evening. I actually might have dethroned the Boggle Queen last night!
I will sometimes joke and say that everything is better in Harbor Springs. There have been summers I was injured and couldn’t run and it didn’t feel like the end of the world. Summers I wound up in the hospital and yet somehow still had a positive view on it. Heck, I even liked yoga when it was in Harbor Springs. This summer was no different. Unfortunately, mid cookie purchase, I found out that my debit card was declined. I assumed at first that maybe they flagged it with all my traveling and I could fix it, so I rushed out leaving the cookie I started to eat as she was ringing me up on the counter. It was not as quick as I would have hoped to fix and it’s not really fixed yet, but I did hurry back later that day to pay for my cookies. Mostly the half-eaten one as I had figured that maybe they’d have put the ones I was planning to mail to a friend back. After waiting in line and getting ready to give an apology for earlier, the young girl working the counter brought me my cookies (half-eaten one and all) and then told me, “You’re all set. Someone paid for them.” Me, “What?”. Her, “Yeah someone paid for them.” I don’t know who it was, but I will chalk it up to the fact that even a compromised bank card can turn into a positive thing in Harbor Springs. It’s like Magic!
As much as I love Harbor Springs and going up there, I’ve often struggled with the fact that it came to me through someone else’s life or that I wasn’t raised “summering” up there as a child. I’m constantly asked, “Oh you know so and so right.” To which I usually say, no I don’t know anyone except the same people, I’ve always known and if I’m being honest, I like it that way. This summer I was stopped by a lovely woman who I’ve met at least a dozen times and she asked me, “Now remind me again who you belong to?” I typically balk at these questions as I have to explain that while Louisa and the kids are like my family, I was once their sitter aka “the help”. But you know what this time I didn’t hesitate because I think I belong to all the people I just wrote about and even some I didn’t. I will always be someone’s love bug, the girl who broke through their screen door, the short one who can never get into your truck and always gives you a good laugh, their third daughter and mostly their friend. The ones that matter most always make me feel like I belong and that’s all that really matters.
As always you’ve set my soul on fire for another year Harbor Springs and I thank you. I actually am not as sad as I usually am as I leave, because I will be heading back up in a few weeks for a wedding, so technically it’s not quite goodbye yet. XOXO, Summer Girl
We miss you already!
XO
L
Sounds magical! I’m glad you were able to rest your mind for a bit 💚
You always have a magical time in Harbor Springs.