Meg and Mackinac

I'm never quite sure how Meg's mind works.  One day, she'll just decide that she is coming to visit me, and within the hour, I need to approve the dates and she'll buy the tickets.  For some reason, she wanted to come visit me in the fall to which I repeatedly told her that it's my busiest season and not the greatest time.  But in true Enneagram 8 fashion, she pushed me until we had three days set aside for it.

Normally, this kind of thing would push me close to the edge in stress leading up to it, but finding my new mantra of "I am enough" is resetting how I see and react to so many things.  Plus, I absolutely love Enneagram 8s (I believe Katrina is one as well)--they set most people off the wrong way, but I appreciate their honesty and authenticity.  Meg is who she is, she loves me, and there's no hidden agenda. She doesn't expect anything from me, she doesn't criticize me, and she doesn't undermine me. No joke, I can relax and be myself better around her than around anyone else.

I asked her if she would like to go to Mackinac, and she was honestly game for anything.  She just wanted to be outside, and she wanted to eat good food.  Could we BE anymore alike?  She arrived Monday morning (after a significant delay in departure out of Charlotte), so we first got some breakfast at First Watch.  I loved seeing her order tea...and in fact, the next time I went to First Watch, I ordered some myself just because it reminded me of her <3

Turns out, she drinks a lot--water, tea, coffee, and beer--but really just a lot of water.  I'm sure if I drank as much water as she does, I could be as fit and healthy as she is, but you know, I just don't want to be running for a bathroom every hour, on the hour ;-)

Because of the flight delay, we ended up just missing the second to last ferry to Mackinac for the night, and wandered around Mackinaw City for a while (no, that's not a misspelling--Mackinaw is a riff-raff city which is accentuated by the misspelling of the word).  In fabulous Meg fashion, we walked up to the water, and then she wanted a beer.

Woah.  Rock my boat.

I don't think I've ever hung with anyone who wants a beer.  In fact, I insisted that we better look up a "bar" on Maps to find one for her, but she told me, "No, that place up there will have beer."  I looked ahead and was sure they wouldn't, but she pressed on.  Sure enough they did, although not exactly the RIGHT beer.  Turns out, there are all kinds of flavors and brews and "IPO"s, and the joint seemed to only have the ones she didn't want.  In the end, she got one with blueberries floating around in it, and for just a second, I was tempted to just try one.  It was a unique moment though, sitting outside the restaurant, next to the dock, watching for our ferry, and watching Meg drink a beer.  The Apgars are always posting pictures of beers they drink, and it does make me feel a bit distanced from the Apgars because I don't drink (that, and about a million others reasons as well).  So, in true Apgar fashion, here are my beer photos:

  

So, turns out, the colors on the trees weren't changing yet, but the temperature sure was.  It was a might bit chilly on the ferry, and by the time we got to the island, it was almost dark, and it was COLD! We popped into the fudge store before it closed, and then we ran to watch the sunset, and as it turned out, we had the perfect view and got there at the perfect time.

 

We let the porter take our luggage to the hotel and we went to the Gate House for dinner.  Ahhh, tin can nachos.  I hadn't had them before, but I had seen other people order them.  They were delicious! I liked my dinner, but I don't think Meg loved hers.  No worries though--we bundled up and headed to our hotel.

Wouldn't it figure--the night that I get THE prettiest hotel room on the island and John isn't with me! At the Island House, we got a closet for a room, and at Grand Hotel, we got one of the run-down rooms.  But this one, for just myself, was gorgeous!

Meg wanted to bike the island which again always seems like a great idea, but with the shore road partially closed, I dread the exertion and pain of biking over the island.  At some point, I'm going to be too old to do things like this, but thankfully I'm not there yet, so off we went!

Maybe a reason that Meg and I share so many characteristics is because our father married women who were similar in some ways (of course, I find Janet far more tolerable and even loving so there's really no comparison), but when Meg has to stop every five or ten minutes to look at some plant or identify some bird, I can't help but see myself in her.  Nature walks, and nature hikes, and bird watching--all my favorites--and I had to take some photos of Meg doing exactly what I do as well.  Did we both have moms who like nature? Maybe.

 

And guess what? She always needs her chapstick.  And she wear Hokas.  And denim capris.

 

Once we left the island, I had to take her up to St. Ignace for some ice cream.  I mean, Michigan does a lot of things right, but ice cream is near the top of the list.

And then we drove back down state to see John and Hannah that night, she shared some pictures of us when we were little, and our dad, we went walking on the path in Dexter the next morning, and she was headed back home.

I love that when I'm with Meg, I don't get a stress headache from talking too much.  It's just easy.  And she's never demanding.  I'm just waiting for the next phone call for our Austin trip.  I better have my calendar ready to go, cause quite honestly, I need more moments like this: