Zoe and her handlers headed north again this weekend for a quick visit to Sleeping Bear Resort on Herendeene Lake, about 15 miles west of Traverse City. That's where my cousin, Marissa, snapped the stellar photo of Zoe and my mom you see above.
Zoe took the name of the resort quite literally for most of our Saturday visit. But in the rare moments her eyes were open, she saw one fine group of folks. Assorted branches of the family tree converged on the group of cabins from far and wide: Texas, Virginia, Illinois and various locations around Michigan. A fine group, indeed. Funny. Intelligent. Caring. Loving. And now the core group that I had the pleasure of growing up with and around has created a whole new generation of funny, intelligent, caring, loving children. It was a weekend that made me realize I don't do a good enough job keeping in touch with my family. But, somehow, now that I have a child of my own, doing just that is more important to me. These are people my daughter needs to know. People she needs to be influenced by.
Sonja, as has become somewhat of a tradition, found herself drawn to my grandmother. Busia, we call her. Our matriarch. It never fails... we pull away from a family get-together and Sonja tells me what an incredible woman Busia is. All I can do is nod. It's nothing I don't know. Sonja didn't know her grandparents well. I dread the thought that I've not gotten to know mine well enough. But I'm eternally grateful Zoe has two great-grandmothers, each strong women in their own right. One learned and resolved. One resolute and tough-as-nails. Both full of lessons. She needs to be influenced by them, too. And she will, since she'll be influenced by me.
Saturday night, we stayed at Jerome's condo in Traverse City. Jerome is a good man. He's been my best friend, the brother I never had, for nearly 20 years. It's funny to say that since we've lived on opposite ends of the continent for much of that time, gone months without talking and years without seeing one another. I'm very glad he's back in Michigan and I'm looking forward to more frequent visits over the next 20 years.
That being said... Jerome is not someone I necessarily want Zoe to be influenced by. Consider his plan for Saturday night:
We arrived at his place at approximately 11:45 p.m. He got home from work shortly thereafter. Earlier in the day, he dropped $350 on a kayak. All part of the plan. Seems one of his co-workers rented an entire island campground on Grand Traverse Bay and was hosting a bash. Jerome's plan was for us to paddle to that island in his brand new kayak. At midnight. Estimated travel time: sixty minutes.
"Um, Jerome? We've never been in a kayak before."
"Yeah. I know. How hard can it be?"
"Um, Jerome? The kayak only has one seat."
"Yeah. You paddle. I'll hold on."
"So I'm going to drag you through the water on a one-hour kayak trip, through pitch black, toward an island we won't be able to see?"
"Yeah."
"Sounds good."
The more we talked, the more ridiculous it sounded. Six years ago... I would have been paddling that damn kayak while Jerome held on. And we would have laughed our asses off. But this is 2005. My wife and daughter were asleep in the other room. His wife was in Mt. Pleasant, celebrating her mother's birthday. I fell asleep on his couch while we watched SportsCenter. We were up early for breakfast and returned to Sleeping Bear Resort for a nice, well-lit Sunday afternoon kayak trip. A little tame by comparison, but enjoyable nonetheless.
That crack I made earlier about not wanting Zoe to be influenced by Jerome, obviously, just isn't true. Some day, when Zoe is much older and no longer influencable (did I just make up a word?), I'll have some good stories to tell about things Jerome and I did together. Until then, I hope she can learn from him what it means to be a good friend and a better person. That's safe. Unlike the proposed kayak trip.
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Blogger's note: Spellcheck suggested I change Jerome to germ and kayak to kazoo. We're going for a ride on germ's kazoo. Sorry. That struck me as funny.
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4 comments:
From all I've heard, sounds like was a great time. Hopefully the Cobbler Ct clan will be at the next one. We really missed you all! And that's not just something I say...we truly do and did this weekend. Zoe looks great and her cousin CAJ has a few influencial things he wants to teach her!
She's already down with the whole "it ain't a party until your pants are wet" concept.
Zachary wants to share something his great Busia Wlodarczak just told his Busia...
You live your lives vicariously through your children. Your grandchildren are your future and your great grandchildren are your immortality.
I know you're figuring it out, but it truly is a special thing that you have the memories that you do about Zoe's great grandparents to share.
Marissa
NEXT YEAR WHEREVER THE PLAN CENTERS ON I CAN JUST SEE THE YOUNG BALL TEAM WITH SOME NEW ADDITIONS. STILL WILL HAVE JARRETT IN CENTER(SPEED KILLS) AND DEREK AT FIRST(HE MAKES BASE RUNNERS LAUGH A TON) AND EVAN AT SHORT(GREAT RANGE)...NOW ADD ZACHARY AT SECOND, BECCA AT 3RD, EMILY OUT IN RIGHT(REAL CLOSE TO THE VILLAGE AND HER MOM IN A CHAIR)AND ZOE BEHIND THE PLATE(GREAT ARMS) THE OLD TIMERS WILL BE STRUGGLING TO KEEP UPAND IF SARA AND DANIELLE EVER PERFECT THE "WHACK EM WHERE THEY AIN'T" THEORY OF HITTING....WOE IS US. AND BY THE WAY, I AM OLD BUT I CAN STILL KEEP UP WITH ZOE....FOR NOW
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