Like old friends
One of my favorite parts of running the cabins is seeing repeat customers year after year. There’s a special anticipation when there are familiar names on my reservation list. So many of these people are like family to me — dear, old friends who have experienced the cabins over the years as I have, many of whom knew my parents and grandparents.
People are the heart of this business and their enjoyment is what makes it all worthwhile.
People have many memories of this place and are so appreciative to be able to return year after year. Some return many decades later to share the place with new generations of their families.
You hear their stories of job changes, new homes, vacations, and retirements. You celebrate with them when their kids grow up, graduate from high school and college, and start families of their own. You see people age, weather health issues, and experience loss and other hard times.
It is life. You experience slices of their lives and for a week or two each year you get to experience life together in cabins on a lake in a remote corner of Michigan.
People can be real here. There is no one to impress, no deadlines to meet or extravagant events to attend. Life is unplanned and simple. You can wake up with the sun and fall asleep when the moon rises and the stars dance in the dark skies. You can relax, take a walk, breathe in the clean air, feel the sun on your face. You can just be…and be together.
Photos courtesy Jay Jukkala, KLEM Studios.