Leigh, Ewan and I went back to my hometown today of Central Lake, Michigan.

I “grew up” there. I was born in Detroit and mom and dad brought Sarah and I north in 1977. I was four years old. Sarah was two. Little squirts. So for the next ten years, it was the idyllic childhood sort of deal. A cute little neighborhood, small blocks, woods, a downtown, a general store, a grocery store, a school, some playgrounds, seasons, safety, simplicity, lakes, neighbors, hoodlums, jocks, hooters, hicks, etc. All we needed as a little family, in Norther Michigan.

So went back there day to see it again, and cruise around all my old haunts some.

Each time I go back, it gets smaller and smaller and smaller. The blocks shorten. The height of the gymnasium gets shorter. The woods to the west get closer. The lakes get shallower.

It’s a small town in the Midwest. In Northern Michigan. A good little town.

In the twenty years since we’ve left, it doesn’t feel like much has changed. Maybe it has. Oddly enough, Bellaire to the south seems alive, and has shit “going on” for whatever reason.

We did a quick drive by. That’s all I ever do when I am on my way back out west, or on my way back home. Even though it’s out of the way, I always try to drive through Central Lake to see it again. I have great memories there, and a couple weird ones, and twenty years later, am very thankful mom and dad moved to Traverse City. There were just so many more options for us.