A Ten Year Celebration
Our Labor Day was spent at the cabin we own jointly with our daughter and our Ann Arbor friends. This is the time of year when we move all the furniture and vacuum, sweep, wipe-down, throw away, wash windows, and commune together as we work. Outside work includes pulling an exotic bittersweet vine which climbs to the top of 50-foot trees and twines around their trunks, killing them. Some of the vines are three inches in diameter. Then we have a feast. This year it was turkey slow cooked on the grill, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, salads, brownies, and tree-ripened peaches with ice cream.
This year included a special celebration and ceremony. The partnership celebrated ten years since we signed the deed which made this wooded 70-acre property with its 15-acre deep lake all ours. Catherine and Michael had been coming out to the cabin for retreats and workshops for six years before the owner died and the heirs forced a sale.
In the will was a clause which stated that the land was to be kept as a wild life sanctuary. This continued the tradition of the family which had used the land for that purpose for at least three generations. There are many magnificent walnuts, black cherries, oaks, American chestnuts and many planted evergreens of all descriptions, some of them 60 or more years old. Deer roam freely and wild grouse drum in mating season. The sand hill crane can be heard with his harsh garoooo-a-a-a call, along with wild turkeys and cock pheasants. Fish abound in the lake. There are bass, trout, crappie, carp, and pike. Blue gills and sunfish give the children a thrill as they fish off the dock. Turtles and water snakes swim by but they are wary of us human swimmers. The lake is a natural lake, scooped out by the glacier many millennia ago.
There were many discussions and a lot of praying before the nucleus of the partnership selected other partners and raised the money. Legal bylaws were drawn up. A bank even loaned the partnership some of the money. We have one meeting early in the year when we divide up the calendar year. Each partner has weeks in the four seasons. There is often a bit of negotiation between partners who want the same week. Holidays are open weeks. Partners may rent their weeks if they aren’t able to use them.
After the work was done, we used a familiar tool, the talking stick, to take turns reminiscing about our time together. All of us expressed thanksgiving that there had been so little friction among us. We remembered when two sailboats, a windsurfer, a rowboat and a canoe were all out on the lake at the same time over one summer holiday weekend. We remembered campfires and s’mores for children who are now teenagers and adults. We remembered lighting all the candles around the fireplace and telling ghost stories We remembered the quiet and the stars. Some of the partners remembered coming out during the winter and walking across the frozen lake.
After reminiscing, we each put a small note in a wine bottle. Sand was added, the cork firmly settled in and candle wax was added to seal it. Then we all went down to the lake, and Percy as the oldest member tossed the bottle into the lake.
That evening we all decided to stay through breakfast the next day. The cabin is one room with three levels. At the lowest level is the fire pit with built in benches around three sides. Next is the living-bedroom with two double beds on the sides. Up three stairs are the kitchen and the bathroom. There is a loft with a ladder. That’s kiddy land.
When the partners are all together, we improvise. This night two partners brought blow-up mattresses, two partners slept on couches, one teenager slept on the fire pit bench, and two slept in the loft, and four lucky people and one dog slept in the beds. Allison, who slept on the floor in the middle of the cabin said it was like sleeping in an orchestra pit with snorers tuning up on all sides.
We feel fortunate to have made so many interesting friends and to have a reason to visit often with our daughter Catherine and her husband. We also see our grandchildren, and our other children and their children enjoy the cabin, too. Most of all we enjoy the peaceful times by ourselves. Far away from the phone, the television, the news, and chores, we savor the silence.
– Mary