Lakefront Winter

Sorry it took so long

I'm back.

Back in the city where I was born. Back in the place where I belong. Back where I've been before. And this time I'm here to stay.

For a long time I was elsewhere. Not far away, mind you, but still outside the city limits in a place that I didn't really choose as much as accept. And I've wanted to come back for a long while, but I didn't have much control over that. Sometimes events have a way of exerting their own timetable on us and we have to wait until we are in a position to do what we want to do. Life has a way of throwing those red lights in front of us. Waiting for them to change can take some patience.

But this year the lights finally turned green and it was time to move. And so I found a place I could afford in an area of the city that I like and I bought it. Everything fell into place. No more renting. No more landlords. Ownership baby. Ownership.

I'm home.

And now, as I look out the front window, a gentle snow is falling from a gray midwestern sky to cover the streets and branches with a dusting of white. Cars roll by and people in jackets and hats walk their dogs along the city sidewalks, newly covered with a thin layer of snow, stopping here and there and then continuing on. The blue snow plows make their appearance. In the park, across the way, kids run and play; making snowballs to throw at each other and the sky grows lighter with the morning.

And I think of how lucky I am to be here. Lucky to have a home. Lucky to be in this city. Lucky to be back after all this time. And to enjoy the first of many more seasons here in this city of my birth.

And to see another lakefront winter.