Leelanau Whippersnapper

Tomorrow at 5:30pm will mark the end of an era for me (and Jirar).  The final walk-through at the old house is scheduled to take place tomorrow with the landlord and after that, I will no longer live in Leelanau.  It’s amazing to think of the reasons we moved up here.  4 years ago we were both so dis-satisfied with living in Grand Rapids, we made a very bold move up to Leelanau.  I quit my job, Jirar transferred his job and we started a new life out in the country with 2 cats and a dog and about 2 acres of (looking back) unmanageable land.  We had a plan we kept telling ourselves.  Get settled, buy a house, start a business.  The coffee geeks we were, we figured that in 4 to 5 years we would be able to learn enough and save enough to start a coffee house somewhere in Leelanau.

Things do indeed change, sometimes good, sometimes not so good.  After landing a job with Menards I quickly found out that I could indeed make a good living selling shit to rednecks.  I also had a knack for managing people.  So after a year of proving myself, I became a manager which sunk me even further into the retail culture that grabs hold of you with easy work for good money and doesn’t let go easily.  Jirar on the other hand was dreaming of cities and airplanes.  We both knew going into it that we would never stay in this region forever.  We are both city boys at heart and while it is good to get away from all that shit, after awhile of having to plan a 45 minute drive just to go to the grocery store or get fast food it starts to wear on you a bit.  It costs a fortune too.

The coffee shop dream hasn’t died for me yet…maybe for Jirar but someday, I do still intend to have my own business.  I’ve learned a lot in 4 years of working serious a retail job.  Running a multi-million dollar sales department for a multi-billion dollar company has taught me extraordinary lessons about business in general.  It would not be impossible for me at any given point to drop it and start my own thing….were it not for the money I make selling shit to rednecks.

So, now we move on.  Jirar no longer has any physical ties to Leelanau, or to me, he has gone off to discover himself in a new city, with a new job.  I have finally gained some of my independence back but I miss terribly the companionship of my ‘marriage’ to Jirar.  We will both move on to discover new things, we will both meet new people and go new places.  Each of us will always know of each other, the advantage of leaving on good terms is that anywhere we are in the world, I know I can call up a person who knows every intimate detail about me and that person will listen and understand me.  Marriages do end (about 65% of the time in the US) but solid friendships apart from the intimacy can last a life time.  As I move on in my life, I’m thankful for the support I’ve been given and that I continue to get from my family and friends and I know Jirar is thankful for the support he gets from his family and friends.

We all want good things to last forever but each of us knows that change is an inevitable function of time.  So here is a cheer for change, may it bring new adventures and new people into the lives of those who experience it.

The picture above was taken from my back deck in Leelanau at sunset about a year ago in the late fall.  I’m saddened that I won’t have the every-day opportunity to capture pictures like this but never fear, Leelanau is only a 30 minute drive out to the parents house.  No reason anyone should expect a decline in my photos.

Look for an increase in blogging as we move into fall.  I have a good 2 weeks yet of unpacking and settleing in.  Fucking Charter Cable has to come out here AGAIN and try to install my cable box correctly this time.  It never ends with the dam cable company.  If it were not for the fast internet, I’d never even bother.  Oh well.  Life goes on.

Now there’s a sappy title.  What can I say.  Angie and her partner Cam came up to visit this past weekend and it is true that aquantences come and go but friends span a lifetime.  I had not seen or spoken to Angie for nearly 10 years but we were able to pick up pretty much right were we left off.  All the reasons we were good friends back in the day are all the reasons we can continue to get along fine now as adults.  We did the whole nine yards up here in Leelanau.  The beaches, the Sand Dunes, Peterson Park, Glen Arbor, the Light House, Suttons Bay…it was fun to show them around and imerse them in my world for a few days.  They are on a whilwind tour around Lake Michigan, likely relaxing somewhere in the UP by now.  Tomorrow I’ll be posting a new gallery to my Facebook album and I’ll be uploading to my photography web site with new photos of their visit.  Check them out.  The computer is uploading photos now so I need to close this down for the night.  I’ll write another entry tomorrow.

The saga of Sugarloaf continues here in Leelanau. God it just never ends. The web keeps getting thicker. The individual who signed an option to purchase has backed out at least for the time being. There was a 90 day rule which he rightfully stated was not enough time to complete due diligence. How anyone could possibly untangle the mess that is Sugarloaf in 90 days is beyond me. Anyhow, that potential buyer is still interested in the resort but so much more research has to be done to see if it’s even worth his time. He was pretty smart to back out. Sugarloaf needs someone with a HUGE amount of capitol to invest OR they just need to rip the shit down and turn it into a park.

I’ve just given up on Sugarloaf and I think many other people in this county have too. It’s not that we don’t want to see it come back to life, it’s that so many people have tried and failed miserably. It’s clear that the county could give a shit and the township just doesn’t have the capitol or the resources to help. So, like so many other things in Leelanau, the resort will continue to rot away becuase nobody really wants to make a 110% effort to do something about it. I guess I wouldn’t care as much if I didn’t live right across the street.

There is too much complacency in Leelanau. One of my political rants for Leelanau is the overly apparent lack of vision this county has for it’s future. It is primarily a county of retired, seasonal residents, many of whom have quite a bit of money. Those of us that live here year around and are younger, don’t have the capitol to have an influence where you have to pay in order matter. Elitism is OVERLY EVIDENT in Leelanau. When township boards have bare quorum meetings during the winter becuase the majority of the people sitting on those boards are at their other homes out of state, it means there is a huge problem with the way things are being run. Why bother even having a body such as that if you are only having productive meetings 3 or 4 times a year????

Tangents. This county suffers from a serious lack of young people who actually give a shit about what things will be like in 20 years. Many of the counties resident’s won’t be alive in 20 years so why would they bother caring about what things will be like in 20 years? This is NOT a slam by the way, it is simply a statement of fact. I’m not concerned that you older folks don’t care, I’m concerned that you older folks won’t give up your seats on the county boards to younger people who actually DO give a shit and want to push changes. I’m concerned that EVERY time someone suggests a positive step in the right direction, someone gets in the way and fucks it all up becuase change is too difficult or too expensive. This county has a HUGE fucking tax base, rather than embezzling it why not put that tax base to good use and do something productive?

This county needs to start considering what it is and what it isn’t. Figure it out already and quit DOING NOTHING!