We drive north to Newport State Park. The beaches are quiet. The trails are quiet. We spend hours on them, naming trees by their bark or leaves and pointing out forget-me-nots and lady slippers. We hike to Europe Lake and the sun is out and it’s ten degrees warmer just a little inland away from the chill of Lake Michigan. We tell each other stories about growing up. We laugh. And laugh.
My friend, her mom, my mom, and me. The four of us connected by a couple of decades and together for this weekend, just us.
We go to Harbor View for dinner uptown — a restaurant, I’m still getting used to it. We sit on the terrace that overlooks the harbor and have a slow dinner with drinks and fancy appetizers and good, good food. It’s cooling down, but it’s nice to be outside. All this fresh air makes me tired, but more alive. It’s relaxing. It’s grounding.
Tonight we’ll shake off the chill and go in the hot tub and look out at the woods. I bet we’ll keep laughing. About hammocks and orange skin and gluten free guns and the hundred other little things we draw out of each other. It’s odd to be socializing like this again. It’s good to be socializing like this again.
With Love,
Natalie