My lifetime of Michigan moments....

Earlier this past summer, the State of Michigan sponsored a contest for people willing to share their Michigan moments.  Entrants were encouraged to share an essay with no more than 300 words, or eight photos, or both.  Five very fine winners were announced on October 11. And, while I did not win, I did want to pass along my entry.

My Michigan Moment is a lifetime of moments; moments of joy on Mackinac Island, or being comforted by warm Vernor’s on a day home from school. Moments spent running the air conditioning and the furnace in the same 24 hour period.

 
They are moments shared with my Dad listening to Ernie and Paul, or Bob Ufer cheering for Bo. Earvin Johnson, Tom Izzo, Sparky Anderson, and Jud Heathcote are all parts of my Michigan moment. And a plucky kid named Stevie Y who wore the C on his sweater or Gibby versus the Goose and Vinnie Johnson and 00.7.

My Michigan moments are in small streams and on great lakes, on mossy trails and busy highways. They are at the Freedom Festival, Hockeytown, the Mystery Spot and Greenfield Village. Looking at the Mackinaw Bridge and feeling a sense of pride is perhaps as unique a Michigan moment as there is. Looking at Sea Shell City and wondering "why" and "how" is so specially Michigan.

My Michigan moments walk the state in souvenir moccasins and are held tight in cedar boxes. They are celebrated with fudge or cherries. A taste of Saunders or anything at Lafayette or American; or taking in the smells of the Eastern Market, those are favorite Michigan moments.

Moments spent racing my wife and kids to count the first robin of spring and the last snowflake of winter are supremely Michigan. Recalling a memory of dueling my brothers on sleds – breathless and our faces stinging, beet red from the cold, that is a Michigan moment.  School's out because of deer day, where else but in Michigan?

For me, my Michigan moment is my lifetime of moments here – all lovely, colored in a palette of autumn brilliance and spring splendor. It’s the love I have for this place, the life it has given me. The grit, the toughness, and the hope that being a son of Michigan breeds. It’s the sound of the summer breeze splashing through leafy trees, the smell of fresh cut grass on a little league field, or laughing with friends over a round of golf.

Those are my indelible Michigan moments.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today; whether you are just down the street or looking in from across the country, I hope that your days are special ones and that you too have been blessed by some special Michigan moments.