Each summer, as we venture North to Chicago, I can feel my heartbeat a little stronger. As soon as I glimpse that first sight of the skyline from the Dan Ryan when we drive in, I feel like I’m home. Each morning, stuck on Louisville time, I wake up in the 5 o’clock hour, and make my way the block and a half to the lake. Ducking under Lake Shore Drive, I pop up at the end of the breakwall at North Avenue Beach, and get to watch the sunrise over Lake Michigan, something that very usually turns both the sky and the reflection on the surface of the water these beautiful peachy shades. It’s the first time, since being there the summer prior, that I feel like I can breathe a little bit.
I’ve joked with a few friends this week that every morning, I woke up and “said hello to the lake.” While it’s not exactly like I’m nodding hello to a neighbor at the corner coffee spot, I do make myself go to the lake every morning. There’s something so calm and meditative about seeing the flat morning water that allows me to breathe easier, clear my mind, and think of the good in life.
Clarity.
I think we all need a space that can offer us such a thing. A place where we can feel at peace, safe, content, a refuge of some kind, away from our day to day. I think that more than anything, that’s what mornings on the lake are for me; those mornings are my quiet relief from the day-to-day. It’s not that my daily life is so bad, but to have a place where I can unplug from it is priceless.
A week up North was so very needed, and more than almost any other getaway through the year, so very appreciated.
** this post is not sponsored in any way. all thoughts and opinions are my own **
