An Epiphany, or the North Shore Story.

Lake Superior is shrinking. * Quite a bit, actually. I watched that story last night and realized that it was bothering me, though I couldn't really figure out just why. I mean, I've been to the North Shore all of once, for two days this past Autumn.

And really, that's it. That damn two day trip. See, I went up there with the girl I was seeing at the time - she loves the area, and this was our first opportunity to get out of the Metro and road trip together. And it was really a damn fine time - in point of fact, it's easily one of the best times I've had in the past 10 years.

It's a little hard to put a finger on just what made it so good. Partly, I just felt like I was really me, for the first time in years. That probably seems an odd thing to say, but from my perspective it's quite true. All the signs were there: I was gregarious, and a little reckless (if we'd managed to actually make a real relationship out of things, I'm sure we'd be constantly boring people with the tale of how I bombed down the side of the hill down to the shore at like 1AM, in some odd bid to teach her a lesson about pretending to be unsafe - a brilliant over-reaction, and the kind of hare-brained risk I was known for in my youth), and in retrospect I realize I was feeling... well, alive. Funny how a person can take months to realize something so obvious.

Mostly, I remember a sense of endless possibilities - we had (potentially) a lifetime spread out before us and all the time in the world to explore it. And in that setting I guess I felt the freedom - or perhaps courage is a better word - to look ahead at that potential and be hopeful about it. Hopeful isn't really my style, in general, but for some reason in that setting it was the only way to look at the world.

Inevitably, the trip had to end - as did the relationship, ultimately. The unrelenting gloom of reality took its toll, and what could have been a great thing simply withered and died; a victim of harsh surroundings and a regretable lack of care. In retrospect, I wonder if we simply burned too brightly - we never could have hoped to maintain something like that. Questions for another time, I suppose.

But for those two days we were on top of the world, and as a result the North Shore will always be a special place for me. Life's an odd thing, and I'm constantly surprised at how the smallest things can make the biggest impact.





*And Leon's getting larger! (sorry, couldn't resist)