Jacquelyn's Space

I’m going to Mackinac, going to Mackinac, going to Mackinac…

I’m going to Mackinac Island!

Yay!

I am so happy and agitated. I am going to the Island tomorrow. I have too much to do today and can’t settle down. Ha.

We planned on doing the Mackinac Bridge Walk and reserved a cabin at a state park for Sunday night but last week I started thinking about where to go before Sunday — didn’t just want to stay home. I thought about going to my parent’s place up north but that half-formed plan fell through…thought about going to the Island, but then thought about the expense and that it was too close to the holiday to even reserve a place to stay so dismissed that idea. Plus I wanted to save my money for a Grand Hotel stay in the fall. I really wanted to go someplace new but every place new is just too far away from the bridge and has unknown expenses, ha. I thought I might as well stay home but of course Mackinac is never far from my mind…

Around Monday I started thinking about going again. I hated to go up to the Straits area and not go to the Island. I called up to Small Point Cottage to see if they had anything available — they did but for 3 people for Saturday night, the important night. Grrr…I decided to wait until the next day, evaluate my finances and see if I really wanted to go to Mackinac Island. I did, I did, I do…so I spent Tuesday morning calling around trying to find a place for a reasonable fee, ha. Slim pickens — I called and called, everything is booked or very expensive …until finally I called Bed and Breakfast. She didn’t have anything at the B&B but wait! She had a little 1 bedroom apartment with a couch bed available! Yay…how much? Something I could afford? Yes! It was, I even got a deal but had to agree to stay Friday and Saturday nights. Okay, I will.

More problems…my husband has to work until 5pm on Friday and with Labor Day traffic…Argh! We may not get up there until late, late…too late to catch a ferry. Boo! Luckily ferries run until 10:30pm this week-end. Yay! But I decided to rent a cheap car and go up early so I could enjoy the island and the apartment — and pay the lady for the place. My husband and stepson could drive up through the Labor Day week-end traffic. I am so mean but I got to pay the lady.

Then, my stepson tells us he has to work Friday night! Ugh! Almost derails the whole plan…but his work called him in early tonight to work all stinking day today, 12 hours I think, and then he could have Friday off. Yay! But if he still had to work I suppose he and my husband will just have to come up to the island Saturday — I’ll be there waiting for them…enjoying the Island and some me time.

Can’t wait, so excited. This is where we are staying:

http://www.thevoyageurinn.com/apartments.htm

We have apartment 2…isn’t it cute. It has a little kitchen and everything. It is going to be like we live on the island. So cool.

I love that my stepson is staying with us. I can’t really say living with us because he will be gone in a little over a month but I am glad that he is here. No, he isn’t perfect but he is a good kid — still a kid too, even though he is 18. While he does have some things he needs to work on (don’t we all?), he is not terribly disrespectful, at least not in ways that my husband and I can’t handle and he is not always gone;  he has actually been home quite a bit since he has been with us… weird.

Therein lies the problem. With my stepson home I can’t be free — I can’t walk around the house naked like I like to do.

Yesterday a walking tour of Applewood Estate, today a walking tour of the campus. I met up with my friend Amanda on her lunch hour and we walked a figure eight through campus and talked. It was nice… another lovely day for a walk and it was good to be on campus — I love my school! I will definitely have to go walking more often because I sure do need the exercise. Amanda walks everyday on her lunch hour. I wish I was that disciplined. I am going to have to work on it. I have a couple of new school year resolutions and getting regular exercise is one of them.

Here are the lovely picture I took at Applewood. I cannot believe this beautiful place is in the middle of one of America’s most run down cities. I also can’t believe that I had not visited the place before now.

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It felt good to go walking in the gardens…made me think of Mackinac Island…and Greenfield Village. Made me wish I wasn’t so damn lazy and loved working in the garden. Made me wish I had a nice farm with a brick barn and tons of flowers. Made me want to turn my yard into a paradise like Applewood. But that brings me back to my damn laziness.

Well anyway, a walk in nature was exactly what I needed and what I need to do more often. I ooohed and aaaaahed over my pictures when I got home. Then I checked my message from God on Facebook, haha. This is what it said:

On this day, God wants you to know…

… that nature is the best cure.

Whenever you are stressed or worried or uneasy, take a nice long walk in the nature, touch the ground with your feet, touch the trees with your hands, and the Divine nature of life will flow into you to ease your pain.

See, I knew God was talking to me today!

I have been so excited about school but it hadn’t really sunk in yet that I am a student in graduate school. Yesterday there was a get together for the new M.A. English Language and Literature students — we went on a walking tour of the Applewood Estate in Flint, Michigan and had a reception at school afterwards. There was also a grad student orientation that I didn’t really need to attend but I decided to go because I had a chance to win an iPad. I am so glad I went to both events…the Applewood Estate is gorgeous and I took some fabulous pictures. Of course it gave me a chance to meet up with friends and former professors from school, and to become acquainted with some of my new classmates and faculty I hadn’t met yet. My friend Nancy’s enthusiasm is catching — she kept saying “We are in grad school!” It wasn’t in her plan to go and she couldn’t believe she was attending graduate school. Tired old me just kept saying, “Yep, we are in grad school.” Of course I was and am happy and excited but like I said, it hadn’t hit me yet. Nancy’s wondering statements helped everything kind of sink in…

I went on to the orientation after are departmental event. Unfortunately I did not when the iPad but all incoming graduate students receive a messenger bag. That is awesome because earlier in the week I was thinking about looking for a messenger bad and now I don’t have to buy one. After I signed in and was sitting among my new classmates, I sat my messenger bag on my lap and looked at the UM-Flint logo and “Graduate Programs” embroidered on it…I ran my fingers over the lettering and only then did it really sink in and I got a little emotional. Of course the words “I can’t believe it” ran through my brain. But then there was Nancy to remind me, “We are in grad school!”

And of course the 87+ pages of academic articles I need to read for a class by next Wednesday. Gah!

It is so awesome, too, when you are around people who are into the same things as you. To be around other English scholars — people that like to read and write is nourishment to my soul. Nancy and I didn’t want to leave school last night — having too much fun chatting and laughing with our super nice advising professor, Kazuko ; we were also laughing about how we are such big nerds.

So today I think it would be fair to say it is finally sinking in. I was looking at my messenger bag again today and I got really emotional — I actually hugged my bag. I am just extremely thankful that I am going to graduate school, that I have a plan that encompasses utilizing both my degrees and passions, and that I am going to be able to study writing. I am so happy.

Kind of my philosophy…only some people can’t handle the truth, or often people’s perceptions and version of the truth are a little (or a mile) off. Then there are the dreamers…

There are those that need a daily slap of truth though, for sure.