July 4th is tomorrow and I'm reminded again of summers I would spend in Michigan with my family. I know I've already blogged about this but I'm going to blog about it again but I'm missing this place something fierce today.

My grandparents owned a cottage up in Lewiston, Michigan. My grandfather bought the cabin when my dad was just a kid. It had one bedroom and a fireplace. He built a bathroom and three rooms onto it, including a sun room/reading room for my grandma.

He was a high school math teacher and he was also the coach for the boys track and football teams. On the very last day of school he'd pack up the car before heading to work and as soon as that bell rang he'd go pick up my grandma and my dad and aunt and they'd leave asap for Lewiston. He loved that cabin. He loved being in the woods and being a dad. I miss him, and my grandma so much.

As a kid I spent many summers there. My aunt and uncle would come with my cousins. We'd play in the lake. We'd dare each other to swim out to that little island out there. We'd use the paddle boat and we learned how to ride my grandmas three wheel cruiser trike. That thing was a lot harder to ride than it looked! We were always crashing it.

My birthday is in August and many times I'd spend my birthday there. My grandma would curse the jet planes over head as she baked my birthday cakes. She swore the noise made the cakes fall.

My grandpa had this incredible fire put that he built with my dad. It was made out of stones. He'd light that fire pit every single night and like moths to a flame, all the neighbors would wander over. They'd spend hours out there just telling stories and I was always mad that I couldn't stay up with the grown ups, hanging out by the fire pit, listening to their stories and jokes.

By the time he passed away he had a beautiful rock collection from people bringing him stones from all over the world. His favorites were of lava and his prize possession was a piece of the Berlin Wall.

 Sadly, the fire pit is no longer there and the cabin is a lot different from how I knew it as a kid, so going back to it isn't really the same.

I really miss that place and my family and how simple things seemed then. 

I don't have plans for this 4th of July. Nate is working and many friends are out of town. I feel like the older I get, the harder holidays get and I wish I lived closer to family.