Laughter and Michigan

Man, if I didn't mention it, the last couple of weeks in the Supportive Housing Program have been rough on the guys and rough on me. I don't know why troubling things always happen at once and to just about everybody. I don't get it. One of the biggest issues is that there are a number of folks in the program dealing with significant physical health issues. At least, lately, these are prominent. I mean, some really bad things. It's discouraging because you see the pain in the faces of these fellows, or in the way a few of them can't sit still for longer than a couple seconds because the pain of just sitting in a chair is too great. The most impressive thing to me is how these fellows have handled all of this with a sense of humor. Where does that come from? I get really down if I, like, get some shin splints. Or something stupid like that. Not cancer or crushed vertebrae. I don't know what would happen to me if I got those things. But these fellows...the pain twists their faces, but then, the next moment, they'll make a joke and start laughing and I have to laugh too. I admire that a lot. Not that "laughter is the best medicine" (What does that mean, anyway? Medicine is the best medicine.) or something, but I notice how it lightens the load upon their souls. I can feel their spirits lift when they laugh. It's great to hear and see.

Emily and I got away this past weekend, which was great. It was really important for both of us to leave the city behind for a little bit. We went to a bed and breakfast in Michigan. It was a late, surprise birthday present for Emily, actually. I like to surprise my wife. Not like, "Surprise, I'm really in the CIA and we're moving to Russia," but with little trips and things. We got there late on Friday evening, and the innkeeper put cookies out in the main room, and coffee and tea, of which we partook. The next morning, we got up and enjoyed the 'breakfast' part of the bed and breakfast experience. A lot of homemade goodness. Fruit, this breakfast casserole, fresh coffee and juice. We ended up talking to this other couple, who were also guests, for about an hour. Complete strangers. I don't normally do that since I'm pretty much a socialackhouse around strangers, but for some reason, it worked. Then, we took a long walk on this really flat, wide beach (this B and B was on Lake Michigan) and then...we went to a cranberry bog. No lie. We went to this working cranberry farm and took a hay ride out to these bogs where they were growing cranberries, and for a long time we sat and watched these guys harvest cranberries. It was absolutely fascinating. Then I bought a jar of cranberry/blueberry preserves that I will probably eat all of tomorrow. After that we figured, why quit with the farms, and we went to this fall farm apple place. I drank some cider, which was astounding, and accidentally pulled the stem off a huge pumpkin. The first rule of picking up a pumpkin, the little old lady who ran the place told me, is "Never pick it up by the stem." Come to think of it, that is probably the only rule about picking up a pumpkin. I don't think the rule book is too thick here. Anyway. Gotcha. Lesson learned. After that, we explored the little town some, checked out this antique store for a long time and then ate dinner. And then we went to this little mom and pop movie theater where tickets were $5 (for the nine o'clock show, mind you) and came with a free fountain drink. A popular thing to do in this town, because the theater was packed. Went back to the B and B after that, where I stayed up and watched the Cubs go into the dumper. Again. The worst baseball I have ever seen. Ever. Sunday, we got up and ate on the porch in the bright sunshine, and then went and looked at a lighthouse. Then we tooled around some of the neighborhoods in this town, and ended up at a used bookstore for an hour, where I read a giant picture book called something like, "World's Biggest Construction Vehicles." I am still 8 years old at heart. (I think we all know that by now.) We ate some dinner/lunch and headed back to Chicago, but before we did, we stopped for pie ala mode at this truck stop. Can't beat that.