Today I am sitting in my favorite local coffee shop writing. This is a new experience for me; I’ve never done this before. I’m really not this cool. But it is a gorgeous, sunny fall day and I was determined to get outside and do something, anything. I’m working on changing some habits. I’m determined to improve my health and my life. I’ve become heavy again, having gained weight lately. And I’ve become heavy with sadness. Fast approaching 71, it’s way too easy to sit and stew.

So I’m trying some new things. Beginning with leaving the house more often, moving around a bit. My closest family and friends have expressed concern that I might be agoraphobic. I’m not. I’m not afraid of leaving the house – I just don’t like it. Mostly I don’t like people, and especially crowds of any number. Like, more than 2. I have become phobic about going to the grocery store. Why on earth do people push closer?! I must smell good…or look friendly, which I am not.

I do love where I live. It’s as close to an English coastal village as you’re gonna get here in the midwest U.S. If it were in the UK the tv show Escape to the Country would be all over it. The year round population here is under a thousand, but that increases tenfold in the summer. Being the middle of October now, we are in the “shoulder season”, the weeks between beach and ski weather. Town is crowded today. It’s fall color tour time. Detroit and Chicago tourists pour in to enjoy the glorious hills lit up like they are on fire against the sharp contrast of the deep blue water.

I have had several conversations about the great lakes region with people from other parts of the country. One native New Yorker said to me years ago, “oh, I could never live inland.” And I said, “spoken like someone who has never seen the great lakes.” They are called the inland seas for a reason. Many people are shocked when they first visit. Just fyi, no, you cannot see across them. And, yes, they have tides. Yes, you can surf them. Think north shore of Devon. But colder. And no sharks.

When I bought my forlorn little cottage several years ago it had new windows being installed. They are hurricane windows. We have hurricane force winds here, especially in winter. With no leaves on the deciduous trees and on the lee side of a 118 mile wide lake, the winds git to goin.’ Winters here are not for the faint of heart. But that’s what keeps the population (and the insects) to a minimum. As someone who doesn’t like warm weather, it’s as close to heaven on earth as anywhere I can imagine.