TWENTY-FOUR DAYS

In twenty-four days, Micah and I are flying up to Northern Michigan to spend Christmas in my parents' cabin. I visit every summer (since I was born, and until I die), but this is only the second time I've ever been up there in the winter. I know it won't look the same. But it will feel the same.

It's hard to do justice to this place, to articulate how important it is to me. I've spent more time there than in most of the towns I lived in growing up. The water is too cold, the area too remote, the lake too dangerous for most. But it's easily my most favorite place on the face of the earth, and where I go to visit some of my most favorite people on earth (or - where I bring some of my favorite people on earth).

My parents bought the first cabin in 1986, and a second, larger one (next door) in the early 1990s. A few years ago they built their dream cabin on the larger site, and ever since then, we've been dreaming about spending Christmas up there. And now it's really happening. In twenty-four days.

I can't wait for Micah to experience it all. I can't wait to experience this different side of it that I'm not used to. So far my must-do list includes taking a sauna and then rolling in the snow, snowmobiling, and taking a walk out on the frozen bay. It's all going to happen. In twenty-four days.