Thanksgiving: A Month early in Michigan

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If you can’t be
with the one you love,
love the one you’re with.

This was a frequent remark of musician Billy Preston. Guitarist Stephen Stills asked for permission to pen that line into a song and he recorded it on his solo LP before his involvement with Crosby, Stills, and Young. We personified that lyric on Lake Leelanau, Traverse City, Michigan.

When it gets tough traveling to family, bring the family home. And that’s exactly what Bob & Jackie did—choreographed by their son, Steve. 11 of us gathered at the Pool family cabin on Lake Leelanau for 5 days of catch-up, games, hiking, and absorbing perfect autumn colors.

We were astonished to awaken the first morning at 10 a.m., unable to remember having done so for decades. We started each day with a fresh fire and a hot cuppa something. It was then into the van to explore a trailhead.

Sooney and I bicycled around Lake Leelanau on day two, and paused ½ way around in Leland to grab a sandwich and look for Petoskey stones composed of a fossilized rugose coral.

What a grand way to spend time with our extended family—sharing friends in Greg Brown country. Perhaps even more amazing is that less than a week after we departed, those gorgeous autumn days morphed into serious winter conditions with heavy winds and snow—hundreds of flights were cancelled in Chicago’s O’Hara airport. Whew!