The bars are dropping on my cellphone – my computer is now two hours away. I’m getting closer to that place that sets me free. Free from the responsibilities of emails, text messages, calendars and to-do lists. The sun will soon be my clock and the rest will not matter. Excitement grows inside me as pavement turns to rickety road.

I travel down the driveway, car bouncing on the uneven ground, and finally I pull up to a little cabin surrounded by pine trees. Pine needles decorate the ground and push into the bottom of my feet as I step out of the car. My usually indecisive brain can think of only one thing at this moment, what has Gitche Gumee stirred up for us this year?

Sometimes I run, this time I walk, almost as if retracing a labyrinth. I know this smell, the big unpredictable wind, and finally that sound of water curling into itself at the edge of the beach. I love the new feeling between my toes as they grip sand to move forward. The newest model of the playground revealed – enormous pieces of driftwood, beautiful golden pieces, a part of a boat and so much more.

Instinctively, I begin gathering the driftwood and dragging logs that are too big to carry. A swoosh-like humming sound follows me until I plop the log into its new resting place. This log will be perfect for the side of the Tiki Hut. A day later family arrives; laughter, play, fort building, and swimming keep us energized. It’s late now and I am sitting on the top of the fort we created. I look out into the stars over the water, at that instant big dancing beams of green light appear on the horizon.

It is here that anyone becomes a kid again. It is in this place that the obsessive thinking of a chaotic brain can rest. It is in this place that I feel most connected.