75 Days of Writing Prompt: Write a short love letter to some object or place that makes you happy.

Dear Lake Michigan,

I used to believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder but lately I’m not so sure. Growing up, sometimes I’d only get to see you once a year if that. My mom would take us to St. Joe and we’d walk down the pier on Silver Beach together. I’d always look out at you with the same reverence as the ocean. You seemed so big and vast and you made Chicago look so small in the distance. Those summer trips were some of the happiest times of my life. You were there for the very last trip my family ever took all together, did you know that? The very last good day. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it with anyone else.

I’m sorry for showing up all those summers afterwards fucked up or violently coming down from drugs with my friends. The truth is we just wanted to see you. We knew you would be gentle, that you would understand. We thought laying under the sun and swimming in the water would wash away everything bad. You were so kind to us, the way you welcomed us in with our old blankets and our fresh fruit and let us disturb your peace with our loud music and even louder laughter. We needed that. I needed that. A place close enough to flee to during dark times to remind us there was still light even if it was all the way at the end of a tunnel; a place far enough to go from home to feel like we had a shot at actually leaving one day. I look back at old photos of us and they’re bittersweet. You are so beautiful. You always have been. I look so small. Like I am afraid to take up space. 

Did you recognize me when I first moved here in May?  Everyone says I look happier and healthier now and most days, I am. I actually spent my very first official day here with you. Even though I had just moved to a new city, it somehow felt like coming home. 

I see you everyday now on my runs. Are you tired of seeing me yet? I don’t ever think I’ll get tired of seeing you. Even on my timed runs, I still slow down right when I cross the bridge at mile 4.5 of the LakeFront Trail and I gaze out at you and try to spot Silver Beach gazing back at me. I never do though. I know it’s because I am in the brighter place now. 

I guess what I am trying to say is I love you. You have always been the ocean to me. I have changed so much but that has not changed. You have not changed. Thank you.

See you again tomorrow.

Love,

Grace