Thursday, July 02, 2009

Month of June in Michigan

Between Open House Parties for our high school graduates, to birthday parties for June Babies, June has been an interesting month in Michigan. Fluctuating between cold spring weather to freezing fall weather to hot "dog" summer days weather, Mother Nature has kept us from being bored. The typical Michigan person knows to dress in layers, because we start off the morning wearing a winter coat wondering is it going to snow, to stripping down to swim suits and catching fish while getting sunburned to standing around a Bar B cue in the evening with long sleeves once more under a canvass cover as it rains down on us.

We listen to our news report another death due to the swine flu in our state, easy to believe with the weather being so fickle. To reading posts on a beloved child in the family catching a fish with her $10.00 kiddie pole...just another example of size does not matter boys...giggle.

We find new normals and let go of old ways. we celebrate achievements while we continue to pray for loved ones still in danger in foreign lands, hugging each other with joy when a new one makes it home safely. Life in Michigan goes on as usual, nothing changed for many while everything is changed for some. We pick and choose battles to be fought here in our home state, and stay silent watching others pick and choose their battles. We say good-bye to loved ones finding new lives in new places as they search for work outside of a once prosperous state now sitting at nearly 15% unemployment making us the worst state hit with it in our country.

We tighten our belts, watch food lines grow longer and longer, more people lose their homes to foreclosures, and understand others just trying to keep the roof they have over their heads as more and more companies lay off or close their doors completely. In a time when no one in Michigan is certain will I still have a job when I wake up in the morning, and the others banging on doors just trying to compete for a job with a number of growing hundreds of others. We still find time to gather with loved ones to play, make some noise, make some music and show that no matter how tough things become; how much we have to tighten an already tighten belt. We will survive this too just as our grandparents did before us.

While the rest of the country talks about heading into a depression, here in Michigan we already are living it. But we are a tough bunch and we still find ways to create joyful memories with each other. We may not have a roof over our head tomorrow but tonight while we still do, we will share with each other what we have and make sure a little one is put to bed with a full stomach.







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