Traverse, Northern Michigan’s Magazine | JUL ’19 9TEXT BY DEBORAH WYATT FELLOWSeditor’s note
ur house was full this past
weekend with four twenty-
something kids, friends and
an extra dog. All but one are through
the college years, working and happy
to come home, relax and let life on the
lake unfold. Their voices were a low,
reassuring hum as I went up to bed
well before them, and there was not a
stirring in the mornings as my husband,
Neal, and I drank our coffee watching
the sun slowly turn the shore across
the lake a blaze of sun-drenched gold.
This was not our life for many years.
Some people get kids who sleep in.
We didn’t. Ours were up at 6:00 am
no matter what time they went to bed.
Their curls may have been rumpled,
their eyes groggy, but by god they were
up and starting their day. The only signthey’d stayed up later than usual was
that they were increasingly cranky as
the day went on. And so were we.
Thus, when you have “early risers”
you tend to be committed to early bed-
times. No matter the season or circum-stance, our kids were in bed by 8pm
My husband or I would read to them
until one by one, they fell asleep. The
he and I would sit on a quiet dock and
watch the setting sun turn our worldon the lake the color of magic.
Obviously, this was particularly
challenging during summer nights when
the sun outside their bedroom windows
rivaled that at midday and boats still
buzzed by on the lake, conjuring visions
of adventures still being had.
One summer when our oldest was
eight, our next-door neighbor’s young
grandchildren arrived. That night, as I
sat reading to the kids in their beds,
the windows wide open to capture the
breeze, we listed to the grandchildren
playing baseball. Next, we heard them
race to the lake shouting for towels on
the way and squealing as they leapt off
the dock. It wasn’t too long before we
heard one of them call a request to their
grandparents to bring marshmallows to
the bonfire. 4O
ON MICHIGAN TIME
PHOTO COURTESY OF DEBORAH FELLOWS
Hop up.
Grab your
swimsuits.