You know how sometimes you get that feeling that you just have to do something? You just have to? Well tonight I got that feeling.
Tonight I was driving home and had been in the car for four hours. I was supposed to go and attend a work dinner, but because of a traffic jam in Minneapolis, I was already late and wasn’t really all that interested in going anyway. I was contemplating the dinner situation as I drove into Duluth, but once I reached Duluth I had this overwhelming urge to go down to Lake Superior. So I went. I drove down to the lake, got out of my car and started to walk along the beach. I went to touch the water, expecting it to be freezing cold – as Lake Superior is known for is leg numbing coldness – however to my surprise it was warm. So warm that I knew that I had to take advantage of this rare moment and go for a swim. I was tempted to dive in right then and there when I remembered that I had a swimming suit in my car, so I ran back to my car, quickly unpacked my suit case - throwing clothes all over until I found my suit – put my swimsuit on and went back to the beach.
At this point the sun was setting and the water and sky were pink, and there was no one else on or in the lake, except for a simple kayak gliding along and a sailboat far out in the water. I dove right in and felt all of the stress of long car rides, overflowing inboxes and grimy hotels, glide off of me. I continued to swim and swim, relishing in the fact that it was mid-September and I was swimming and that I was the only one in the lake for as far as I could see. It was paradise.
Sometimes people wonder why the hell I live in Northern Minnesota…..and this why…for days like today.
