"Soul Patch..."

It isn't often that a gift lands in your lap that is so nearly perfect you didn't know that piece of you was missing until just at the moment it squares up in your lap.  You see, along with those Twins tickets we received a few weeks back?  Was a set of keys... to a cabin... on a lake.  But not just any lake, it happens to be the very lake, (out of 10,000 lakes in Minnesota) that I spent a good portion of my childhood at.

In fact, Rick and his family camped at the same campground that we did, even though we didn't know each other then.  Laying eyes on this lake?  Felt like coming home, like all the way, completely home.  For over 20 years, I spent summers at the lake with my family in and around the Detroit Lakes area.

When I was really young, we started out in a pop up camper and rented a weekend spot at Lost Valley Resort, for the summer.  For vacation, my dad would take a week off from work and we would spend all week at the lake.  I was in heaven.  It didn't matter to me that we used an "outhouse,"  I could pinch my nose closed and hoist my nightgown all in one swift move... Laura Ingalls had nothing on me.

Oh the things that stay with us.  Like trips to the resort store for maple nut ice cream, and jolly ranchers for a penny.  The distinct smell of hotdogs and s'mores made over the fire.  The way a sunburn stings and how my mom would let us cool it off in the lake late at night sometimes under the glow of the moon.  I can still hear the laughter of my cousins who camped nearby, and the roll of the Yahtzee dice as they clacked against the picnic tables.

Its abundantly clear, I have and will always be a water-loving, lake-swimming, sand-digging, rock-skipping, sun-worshipping, boat-riding, summer girl at heart- who has longed for a week at the beach.  We've been spoiled with Rick's parents lake up by Park Rapids, but we never have much time to spend.  By the time we start to unwind and relax, its time to go home.

So I decided to ask for help in making something happen for us this summer.   Maybe in our network of friends someone would know of a place we could rent ?  Less than 24 hours later we had an offer that took our breath away.

So we've become a lake family, in a whole new way.  We have packed a few things and jumped in the car and in 40 minutes or so we feel like we are lightyears away from home.  The cabin is cozy and has every amenity-you wouldn't need to leave it, but then the loons call from the lake and you can't help but go out and explore.

I don't know how to begin to say thank you to our friends.  To first of all have the generous and giving spirit to turn over their lake home to us, but also to trust us with something so special to them, is very humbling for us.

AnnVoskamp mentions her "soul holes," in her book "One Thousand Gifts."  Cancer may be my soul hole, but I feel so "alive" and am busy filling my gratitude journal with oodles of new gifts through my lake-filled eyes.  It indeed has been the patch to any hole in my soul.

Weekend-ing

                                                             From December chilling...

to June warming...

Excitement seeking boys car- riding-bickering... then finally... the fishing...

lots of catching and releasing...

new lawn mower mowing...

Hot tub dipping...

s'moring, "survivor torch" twirling, with mom eventually kaboshing... (oy).

and never enough- visual feasting... 

Mind clearing...

Clean air breathing...

Memorable sun lowering...

dipping...

soul searing...

And Daddy missing...

Zorbaz.

To wind down from our fishing adventures, we headed over to Detroit Lakes. Summer and DL go together like the Fourth of July and fireworks, one just doesn't exist without the other. Detroit Lakes is a resort town with Big Detroit and Little Detroit Lakes at the heart of it. There are condos and motels and cabins to rent, a big public sandy beach to swim at, all the boating and skiing you could want plus tons of things I am certain I have forgotten about.

While its hard to pick just one favorite place in Detroit Lakes, one of the places we can't seem to get enough of is Zorbaz. Its a pizza and mexican restaurant/bar. Its an institution that has been around for many years. Its the type of place where sandy feet and bathing suits are the norm. The food is great, the atmosphere is relaxing and fun, and it feels like a mini vacation just minutes from town.

It was the perfect respite from our fishing adventures! We were all ravenous, so all bickering ceased as the boys munched on their macho nachos. They come on a tray, cause a plate wouldn't suffice to contain them all, and are covered with melted cheese, cilantro, sour cream, onions, peppers, tomatoes and beans. We about polished them off and then the pizza came. The boys wasted no time in demolishing that as well. And slowly we finally relaxed. I think this is the vision we hold for ourselves when we want to go someplace and take the boys. We tend to put adult-size expectations on small children and forget they require a lot of teaching and instructing.

It occurred to me that last year at this time, going to Zorbaz was still a little bit of a stretch for the boys. Nolan got distracted by the video games inside and Colton complained he didn't like anything on the menu. They slid off their chairs and fought with one another, and half way through our meal Rick and I were ready to run from the whole scene.

But here they were, sitting nicely, eating with good manners, and not fighting. As our stress melted away, the sense of humor kicked back in. I reminded Rick that growing up I longed to do the very thing we had done with the boys that day. While it was a lot of effort and exertion, I felt good that we were trying.

The boys were so tired on the way home they almost fell asleep in the car. It was a peaceful ride home. As we turned into the driveway and prepared to unhitch the boat, Colton piped up. "Don't take it off Dad. Just leave it" he said. "Why is that Colton, I asked?" "Cause. When we go back TOMORROW then we will just have to get in the truck and it'll be all ready to go!" I couldn't help but smile.

Fish tale.

I'm writing this while keeping in mind the one request Rick had pertaining to our fishing excursion... "Just don't say it was all happy." This was said minutes after we pulled the boat from the water and being the trooper that he is I understand where this came from. So I'll share with you my best Dr. Phil version of telling it like it is, or was...

To be fair, we put in a tall order on Sunday. We got up in the morning and began cleaning out Grandpa Jim's boat to use that day at the lake. Rick and the boys vacuumed and scrubbed and spiffed it up all morning. We left at 1 in the afternoon already beginning to tire, but the beautiful 80 degree days aren't a guarantee. And when you have winter for 6-7 months out of the year, you won't waste an opportunity to be outside enjoying nature and sunshine.

So we drove a quick 45 minutes and decided to go to Lake Sally. When you live in Minnesota, going to the lake is an iconic part of your existence, especially when there really are over 10,000 lakes to choose from and a big concentration of those lakes is only 45 minutes away. Nolan had already practiced with Rick on Saturday, clinging to his daddy most of the time as he got over his initial fear of being on the water. So after being peppered with 6,352 questions about how fast we would drive the boat, and how deep the water was, and how big the fish were etc... we finally arrived and prepared to put the boat in the water.

I have two big regrets that might have saved us a little of the agony we were about to endure :) For one thing, the access was busy with people putting in all kinds of boats. We had to act quickly to drop the boat in and get out of the way. I jumped in the boat and grabbed the dock while Rick went and pulled the truck up to a parking space. At the last second I forgot to tell him to grab our drinks and snacks for the boat. With no lunch break yet, and dinner time approaching, the rumbling of our tummies and the grumbling of our kids set in all too quickly.

Plus we were HOT. Now nobody was complaining about it, because we've waited a very long time for it to warm up outdside. But hot on top of hungry and tired do not mix well. Which leads me to my second mistake. While I had slathered everyone with sunscreen, I seemed to have forgotten my own shoulders and arms. After a couple of hours on the boat I began to sense the magnitude of my mistake as my skin started to pink up and I too now was on the verge of misery.

But in true Scandinavian-stubborn mode, we were so determined to fish! Despite trying to keep 2 small boys from falling out of the boat. And preventing them from tangling their lines. Or trying to keep them from hooking someone with their lines. We all still managed to get our poles in the water a few times.

And then we heard a shout from Nolan. Now we'd heard quite a few shouts from him already. Like "Hey, not so fast!!!" And "Daddy, don't drive over the drop-off, what if we fall in?" This time, he felt a big tug on his line.

We watched it bend and bend. He was fighting with it, but he kept on it and with the help of Rick and the net he finally landed his big fish. We have a guesstimate at best as to the size but we figured it was a 7 to 8 pound northern pike. Since we didn't have a way to bring it home or anyone skilled in cleaning it, we let it go. But needless to say there were a few more smiles after that for a brief time.

Eventually, smiles gave way to fatigue and hunger and heat. When Colton hit the end of his rope and the sweat pouring down his face started to commingle with his tears, we left. Rick managed to snag one smaller northern as we neared shore. I didn't even get a picture of it before it came off the line and splashed back into the water.

After another half hour of securing the boat back on the trailer, we left the lake, tired, dirty, hungry, and hot. And we all knew just the place to assuage all of those things... stay tuned for the rest of our fish tale... and see what a difference a little food, something to drink and a little time to relax can do for a perspective :)