Sarah at the Cottage

           It’s that time of year again where everyone seems to be getting busier and busier!  School assignments are becoming more difficult, the holidays are right around the corner, and it is getting harder to find the proper balance between school, work, and family & friends.  With all of the craziness, it is important to find time to relax, whether that means taking a walk, sitting in a bath, or binge-watching Netflix.  To me, all of these sound like wonderful options.  However, if I truly want to relax, I usually want to retreat to my favorite place in the entire world—my grandparents’ cottage.

My grandparents' cottage, view from the dock.

            People like to say that home is where the heart is.  Well, my heart rests in Ford Lake.  My grandparents’ cottage rests on Ford Lake in the town of Fountain, Michigan, which is a tiny community about halfway in between Ludington and Manistee.  I have been spending countless weekends and vacations at Ford Lake ever since I was a young child.  Many of my favorite childhood memories were created there.  It always brings me such joy to think of all of the fun times I had with my brother and cousin when we were children.  We spent the summers swimming, boating, kayaking, fishing, exploring, and enjoying s’mores around the bon fire.  Life always seemed to be so perfect whenever I was “up north”.

Me, my brother Sam, and my cousin Alex.  Fourth of July 2003.

            Ford Lake is a great place to immerse oneself in nature.  Because it lies in the middle of the Manistee National Forest, nature is everywhere.  Everything is surrounded by trees, and there is so much wildlife—it is completely normal to spot animals like birds, squirrels, possums, deer, and raccoons in the back yard on a daily basis.  Once, when I was about ten or eleven, we even heard news of a black bear and her cubs roaming around about a mile away!  This is part of the reason why I love the cottage so much.  It is nice to get away from suburban and city life and become connected to nature again.

The middle of Ford Lake

            Unfortunately, as I have gotten older, I have not been able to spend as much time at Ford Lake as I would like.  As a child, I would spend every other weekend there in the summer, in addition to two entire weeks during the month of July.  Now, with school and work responsibilities, this would be impossible.  This means that the time I spend there now is even more precious.  I have not been able to go up north since school started this year, but I hope I will get to soon.  Ford Lake in the fall is absolutely breathtaking—the crisp blue water surrounded by red and gold trees is always a sight fit for a postcard.  I think it would be good for me to de-stress and to immerse myself in the beauty of nature.  Maybe a trip to Ford Lake is just what I need to re-charge myself for the second half of this semester!