The Last Hurrah
When I first started at Leelanau School in 73’/74′ I thought I’d end up running the table there and going all four years. I don’t think too many kids did that. Unfortunately, 1976 would be my last year there. I was kinda “Bad boy” there with a unwelcome attitude.
During my time there I got caught smoking a couple of times. I was told that I wouldn’t be invited back for my senior year. However, one of my last days there in 1976, the basketball coach pulled me into his office. He wanted me to come back and play basketball there for my senior year. We had a pretty good team my junior year and having me back the team would have been that much stronger (I think they won the conference without me there in 1977). Coach said, “Look Scotty, (he called me Scotty, lol) I know they aren’t inviting you back for next year, but I’d really like you to come back
I’m pretty sure I could have a meeting with them and get them to change their minds and get you back here. Would you be open to coming back?”
That was one of the quickest “Big” decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I said, “Thanks, but no thanks. If they don’t want me back, I’m not coming back.” I shook his hand, thanked him, and walked out of his office. That decision haunted me for years. In my mind, it was the biggest mistake I’d ever made. If I could have a “Do Over” I would have gone back. Why? Because my senior year back in Flint was a trainwreck (I’ll detail that in my next post). It was by far the worst year of my life. But now I look at it like it happened EXACTLY the way it was supposed to happen. It didn’t happen to me, it happened for me.
The GOAT of Sunsets
Since we were on the shores of Lake Michigan we got a chance to see a few sunsets. Not many though, because timing is everything. In my three years there I got to witness a handful of spectacular sunsets. I don’t remember any of them except the last one. Maybe it’s because it was the last one, or maybe there was meaning attached. Nevertheless, it was the middle of May 1976. In May the days start getting longer.
The snow is gone and spring is busting out at the seams. It would actually get warm enough to lay out on the beach (probably in the high 60’s lol). This was a night during the school week so we didn’t have a lot of time, but me and a bud decided to have a smoke.
This wasn’t going to be one of those long
hikes to the Tent or somewhere else that was a long way off. We just wanted to get far enough away so we could burn one. We headed up the walking trail on Prospect Hill. You could start at the bottom which was outside the boy’s dorm area and take the walking trail all the up to the ski hill. On the way up, to your left, was the aqua-blue ocean of Lake Michigan. Now, this particular day was one of those days where there wasn’t a cloud in sight.
There wasn’t even a hint of white high in the sky. The sky was a cloudless bright blue. We knew this was going to be a good one and we had to step up the pace to get to the top of the hill where there was an opening void of trees obstructing the view of the lake. When we got there the sun looked like it was several hundred feet above the lake. We sat there and watched as the sun inched down out of the sky. Man, I wish we had cell phones back then. lol.
The horizon was different there compared to other sunsets that I’ve witnessed. All the other sunsets it looked like the sun was in front of the horizon as it went down. Here, it looked like it was behind the horizon. Like, when the sun went down you could see the water in front of the sun, not behind it if that makes sense. Nevertheless, once the tip of the sun looked like it was touching Lake Michigan it took about 15 minutes before it was extinguished. But, about halfway down I was in that trance. “You’ll never forget this night as long as you live” I heard. Again, at the time I was like, “That’s a coincidence.” LOL
Conclusion
My three years at Leelanau were the most magical times of my life. I forged friendships that I still communicate with to this day. At the time when I was going there, I never looked at all the Godly events as being anything but happenstance. Looking back now it’s pretty obvious it was direct communication that I just didn’t get.
Credits: Cover Photo Compliments of the Homestead Resort in Glen Arbor Michigan
