It's Spring on the Old Mission Peninsula - How Are We Doing?
Now that the cherry blossoms have come and gone, I think we can officially declare that spring has arrived on the Old Mission Peninsula. In fact, we're happily speeding towards summer, which drops officially this Saturday, June 20, 2020.
It's been a long winter, hasn't it? The year started with me losing my mom in January. She turned 95 in December, and had lived a good long life. I miss her terribly, but she deserves to rest, is how I look at it.
In February, we celebrated my husband Tim's birthday on Feb. 29 (he turned 17) by going to see Billy Strings play at the City Opera House in Traverse City. I was on a waiting list for tickets, and they called that afternoon and bam, there we were watching Billy pick tunes with his Dad that night.
Billy is an amazing picker. We've loved watching his career grow, starting from when he used to play with Don Julin in Traverse City to filling arenas like Red Rocks now. I know I'm not alone in feeling like we "raised him" here in Traverse City, and we're all so proud of him.
Then in March, as we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. And boy did it hit. Michigan was officially under a stay-home order beginning March 23. One silver lining for me is that Mom decided to leave this world when she did, because our elders are especially vulnerable to this virus and I would have been so worried about her.
April and May passed by. Other than monthly trips to Costco, Tim and I stayed home, washed our hands, and busied ourselves with work and cutting wood for the woodstove. I did a 100-mile walk challenge in May, and the photo at the top of this story is one of those walks at Old Mission State Park at the end of the Peninsula. It's greening up beautifully. That is definitely one of my happy places.
Michigan is slowly opening back up, but we will likely feel the effects of the pandemic for a long time - after a winter that seemed like a thousand years long.
Still, if you're lucky enough to live somewhere that makes you happy, with people you love, that's really the best of everything, isn't it? That's really what it's all about.
And that's what we celebrate here at the Old Mission Peninsula Store. Love, peace, joy, hope and all good things in the world. We hope you can feel that coming through every item here in the store, and especially our OMPeace line. Blessings to all of you as we move into summer. Thank you for being here, for being you.
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December 13, 2020
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