Take Heart

​I just spent a long weekend up at the North Shore. This year is my Mother-in-Law’s 90th birthday and the whole family went there to celebrate with her. I couldn’t help but think that Debbie would be there in spirit. You might recall that I’ve written in the past about Debbie sending me hearts. (https://www.timkwrites.com/blog/hearts) I was hoping that she might send me another one on this trip.
 
We didn’t have great weather for the trip, most days had rain and clouds. Still we managed to do a lot. Either together or in groups we hiked Temperance River, Cascade River, Oberg Mountain, Britton Peak and Sugarloaf Cove; went to Lutsen and rode the gondola up to the top of a mountain, rode the Alpine Slide or visited a winery; and spent time in Grand Marais.
 
On Friday the sun even came out for a bit. During the day a group of us went to Sugarloaf Cove. It has a nice beach area and some rocky shoreline that’s fun to walk along. I thought that perhaps this would be when I would find a heart. I walked along the beach looking at the rocks for hearts (and agates.) I reached the end of the beach without having seen a heart. Feeling disappointed I moved on.  At the end of the beach there is a little isthmus with a rocky peninsula going off in one way and the shore curving in the other direction. It’s a few short steps from the cove to lakeshore on the other side.
 
I walked through and was struck by the sun shining off the water. I thought it might make a good picture. So, I pulled out my cell phone and snapped a picture while squinting into the sun. Which is exactly how to take a great picture it turned out. I looked at it later and thought it was a great picture. That evening when we were gathering to eat together I made sure to show the picture to everyone. (Yeah, I was showing off. I’m still showing off, this is the picture I took.)

​After I took the picture I continued hiking on the peninsula. I was feeling sorry for myself that I hadn’t found a heart rock. However, by the time I got to the end of the peninsula I was feeling better. Lake Superior will do that to you. I told myself that it didn’t matter if I had a heart or not. The love the Debbie and I had for each other still exists. As I hiked back, I ran into Alicia and Carlos coming in the other direction. I took a picture of them on a rock with a bit of a rainbow in the background. I thought to myself that our kids were better than any heart.
 
Later that evening, after I had shown the picture to everyone I was drawn to it again. I had the idea that perhaps there would be a heart in the rocks. So, I zoomed in on the bottom of the picture. Looking at the rocks I didn’t see anything heart shaped. But then I looked up above the rocks, and I found the heart in the water.

​Everything I thought when I was disappointed at not getting a heart is still true. But it was nice to know that Debbie was joining us for the birthday celebration.