Michigan

Year of First Visit – 1969
Point of Entry – Alpena General Hospital

My Michigan memories aren’t so much about the lakes, Mackinac Island, Meijer Gardens, or The Henry Ford. Those are great places but that’s not what Michigan is about for me.



Since I lived there full time for my first 18 years then summers and holidays until I married, my memories could all be about early years or daily life in a simpler time and place. And though these are there and are very much included right along with the tourist locations they aren’t at the heart of my Michigan memories.

This really hit me a year or so ago when I took my kids up to the part of the state where I grew up. “Here’s where my Aunt Katey lived,” I said as we drove to see another relative. Of course, we’d already been past the houses I’d lived in and by where other friends and relatives still lived. At that point my son said, “This trip is just like visiting a family tree.”



Yes, for me Michigan means family. It’s where my whole clan started. It’s where I go to visit my parents and most of my siblings and their families. It’s where my “they’re like family” friends live. It’s where there are some of the very few people in this world who both knew me as a child and know me as an adult. It’s where I can go to a couple different churches and know that the folks there would remember me and make the years since I was last there inconsequential.



Taking my kids to Mackinac Island was about seeing the sites. But it was also about taking them to a place where everyone else in the family had been. And though only the three of us were there that day, they gained a broader vocabulary of experience in my family.

So I have to go back to Detroit, or Port Huron, or Alpena, Mackinaw, Flint, Saginaw, Kalamazoo, Gaylord, Petoskey, Grand Rapids, Boyne City, Ann Arbor, Dowagiac, Oscoda, "the Soo," or one of the many other places in Michigan once in a while, even when it’s just a quick trip in a daydream. Because spending time in Michigan, no matter where I am, is spending time with family.



Even if I never go back inside its borders, wherever family happens for me I’m in Michigan.

Arkansas

Year of First Visit – 2006
Point of Entry – US-63 near Hardy

As I pulled into Arkansas, “Tradio” was on my FM dial. As people called in to broadcast audio classified ads, they reminded me of listening to the daily “Trade Mart” on my family's radio when I was growing up. It felt like a throwback to my childhood and Arkansas made me feel welcomed and at home.

My only trip to Arkansas so far was to visit an ill friend. I’d been meaning to visit her when she was well for nearly a decade. Her sickness caused me to rent a car and make the trip. We weren’t sure how much time she had left.



Time stands still for no one. This merging of the radio “throwback” experience at the state line with the urgent need to prioritize my travels while there was still time wrapped the trip in a call to check my values and priorities.

Arkansas, thank you for calling me back home.

P.S. My friend survived and, though not completely healed, is doing well. It would be good to go back to Arkansas to visit, her and the state, again.