Tags
Apple, dancing, Grand Hotel, law school, MacBook, mackinac island, PC, summer
Can I be honest about something?
After about 4 years with my trusty MacBook I am really starting to wonder if I’m more of a PC person at heart. At least for work and school related things. I’m not a computer expert by any stretch of the imagination but I do, many times, find myself fumbling around my Mac trying to figure out processes that are second nature to me on a PC like I have at work. After owning a Mac for this long you’d thing I would have a better grasp of its capabilities.
But then again my Mac is pretty and cool and stylish and I never really have to worry about viruses, or at least I haven’t had to yet.
I feel like my Mac nurtures my creative side. I can get around easily when I’m working on something like image editing or document design, but on the flip side, when I have serious work to do it can sometimes feel cumbersome…
Anyone else have this problem?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I’m starting law school in the fall and have been considering turning in the old Apple and making the switch back to a PC. While I do have a hard time justifying the purchase of a new computer when mine still works well enough, I don’t want my own issues with its functionality to interfere with my performance in school.
So… I’m just mulling that over for now.
What else is new? Well a gorgeous summer is well under way here in Michigan. I can’t remember a summer recently when we had so much SUN! Lansing has a tendency to be really gray in the summer. Not every day, but we’ve had significantly more sun this year than in the recent past. I AM NOT COMPLAINING! I don’t think I got this much color the whole summer last year and I’m already sporting a healthy glow. For me, that is, I’m naturally pretty painfully pale. 😉
We had phenomenal weather on our recent annual trip to Mackinac Island! I think I’ve mentioned this in the past but every year for Father’s Day B and I go to the Grand Hotel with his family.
This year was especially memorable and special because both of our grandfathers (along with my grandmother and other grandfather) have recently passed. So it was definitely a bit more of an emotionally charged visit this year. But I suppose every year is for me. I always find myself taking a million mental snapshots throughout our trips together, and the annual Grand Hotel visit is no exception. I am constantly thinking Remember this! …Because one day you will be looking back on these memories or recounting them to your children so be sure to soak up the laughs and the sunshine and the toasts and the dances and the bike rides (daytime or late night!) and how good it felt to get away with loved ones for a couple of days. And how handsome B looked in his suit and pictures on the porch before dinner and how nice it is to walk into the room on his arm and how his face lights up the entire time we’re there because he’s been visiting every year for pretty much his entire life and has so many great memories.
I love how our visits have such a routine that after 3 years I’ve now come to expect. It’s always the same every year, as I can imagine it was for many years past. We usually arrive in Mackinaw City or St. Ignace the night before and get up early to catch the boat to the Island. After we dock, we hurry to catch 10:30 am mass at St. Anne’s. Once mass is over we make the trek up to the Grand Hotel for lunch at the Jockey Club. There B and his Dad drink cold drafts from their special mugs which have are engraved with the names of his father and grandfather.
This is usually where the teasing, jokes and banter, which have been suppressed since mass, resume in earnest. After lunch it’s usually time for a bike around the island and from there, it’s off to the beauty parlor for the ladies for a pedicure followed by afternoon tea service, while the men retreat back to the Jockey Club for a draft or the Audubon for wine and “guy stuff”.
We all regroup back in the Hotel room to get dressed up for dinner and then head down to the Grand Hotel’s famous front porch for family pictures. The Hotel is famous for its porch being the world’s largest and the view never disappoints.
We had such great weather this year! After pictures we make our way into the dining room to see what culinary delights await us. This year it was American Waygu beef for B and me. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so glad to no longer be a vegetarian. Seriously. Once dinner has finished we make our way into the Terrace Room for dancing! This is always my favorite part of our stay. This year the Orchestra was just breaking into Sinatra’s The Way You Look Tonight as we walked in… which I think was a sign they were glad to have us back. Doesn’t get better than that!
After we sufficiently wear ourselves out on the dance floor it’s up to the tippy top of the Hotel’s Cupola Bar for a little unwinding and a nightcap. Unless of course you prefer to unwind with a late night bike ride around the island 😉
So although we’ve had quite a rough start to the year there has been a lot of good in the last 6 months too… And it really feels now like things are starting to settle down and fall into place. B just started a new job which he loves! I am SO proud of him. He moved in with my Mom a couple of weeks ago and I will be joining him at the end of the summer because I’ll be starting law school back in southeast Michigan. I can’t wait!
I’m so excited to move back home and actually, it’s a bit of a round-about answer to my prayers. A few months ago, before I knew we were both going to be moving in with Mom, I was remarking to B that I was really bummed that I will never again get to live in my childhood home. I loved our house growing up. It was very home-y but beautiful at the same time. My Mom has a real knack for interior design… and although I inherited a good deal of design genes, I don’t believe interior design is one of them. I was sad that when I finally moved out of my parents house years ago I never really realized that I would never live there permanently again. It was probably one of the summers that I opted to stay in East Lansing and work instead of going home for the summer but I didn’t realize it then and looking back now, it bummed me out. It’s one of those parts of growing up that you’re so eager to do at the time (being on your own) but at the time you also don’t fully realize what it means.
So I told B that I wish I was able to live with my Mom again, even for a little bit. I don’t know if any other 28-year-olds feel these similar nostalgic pangs, but I am so grateful to give myself a little closure and to be able to live with my Mom a little longer.
And this time I know I’ll take full advantage of the opportunity and be conscious of just how precious our time together is (:
xo
-S