Unplugged…on vacation in Montague, MI

self-care

Last weekend, my kids and I spent 24 hours “unplugged” at a fellow IIN student’s lakeside cottage in Montague, MI. (Our kids were initially a bit weirded out by the fact that two “total strangers” would have the adult equivalent of a playdate/sleepover, but even they eventually admitted, “It wasn’t as awkward as I thought it’d be….”)

For me, it was 24 hours of radical self-care: what a luxury to be away from work, cleaning, laundry, groceries, with nothing to do but sit (and walk and build sandcastles) on the beach and have meaningful conversations!

Gratitudes:

To Paula, Pagiel, Annika, and Zack for their hospitality.
To Mother Nature for beautiful weather and especially striking sunset and sunrise.
To Lake Michigan for waves and sand (and a place for Nikolai to learn to skimboard)!
To Lummi Island Wild for delicious fish for dinner and local farms and stores for the veggies to go with it.
For pitch black night, forest smells and sounds to sleep by.
For a morning meditation on a dune overlooking the water.
For a garter snake to see us off.
To Mother Nature again for a crazy thunderstorm on the drive home – the pull-over-and-wait-it-out kind.
To Katerina for putting up with “too much nature,” especially the voracious mosquitos, so her mom could have a playdate!