...I want to turn up one of those seasonal roads which lead off of M-119... fronted by rectangular white signs warning that the roads are not plowed in winter. I could drive far enough off the main road that no one would see us when we stop. You might not even ask why I am doing it. In The Mackinac Bridge Wrote Me a Letter Hill's glimpses into life vary from humorous to poignant to fanciful to observational. Topics include a drive on M-119 through the Tunnel of Trees, a hawk's posture, mouse coffee, the last swim of the year, and the opening of deer season. Hill also reminisces about watching Johnny Green and the Michigan State Spartans play the Indiana Hoosiers at the old IU Fieldhouse. Hill recalls wondering if he would meet another "Frank Hill" and he revisits canoeing across the Straits of Mackinac to impress a girlfriend his first summer on Mackinac Island. Hill even admits to some of his nighttime dreams, thereby lending credence to his wife's claim that he may not be "as normal as pumpkin pie."
The Mackinac Bridge Wrote Me a Letter
And Rabbits Fall From Trees
By Frank HillAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2015 Frank Hill
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5049-1344-7Contents
It Was Not Love At First Sight, 1,
I'm OK With That, 3,
Swept Up In The Current, 5,
Going With The Flow, 7,
How Stupid Was I?, 9,
A Letter From Dad, 11,
Whatcha Thinkin' Dad?, 13,
That Was Then, 15,
One Size Fits All ... Sort Of, 17,
One Of Life's Gambles, 19,
A Sign Of The Times, 21,
The Tunnel Of Trees, 25,
The Mystery Of Creeks, 29,
Mouse Coffee, 31,
Closing Time, 33,
Just A Dream, Nothing More, 35,
Good Posture, 39,
The Mackinac Bridge Wrote Me A Letter, 41,
The Butterfly Stroke, 43,
A House Once Stood Here, 45,
Birthdays, 47,
A Familiar Voice, 49,
Not Everybody Can Be An Astronaut, 51,
Being Braced For Life, 53,
The Sentry Beside The Stairs, 55,
Time And Time Again, 57,
The Last Swim Of The Year?, 59,
When It Is Too Cold To Swim, 63,
Opening Day Of Deer Season, 65,
The Introspective Deer Hunter In His Tree Stand, 67,
Escaping Cabin Fever In November, 69,
November, 73,
Depends On Your Point Of View, 75,
Imagine That, 77,
Water And Ice, 81,
Wrapped In Thought, 83,
A Chickadee In Winter, 85,
Putting One Foot In Front Of The Other ... Or Putting It Elsewhere, 87,
The Warmth Of Snow, 89,
Sometimes Winter Is ... Well, It's Just Winter, 91,
The Ides Of March, 93,
Twilight In Late March, 95,
Rabbits Falling From Trees, 99,
Morris, 103,
Improbable As It May Seem, 105,
Organized Fun, 107,
Options, 109,
Noticing While Trying Not To Be Noticed, 111,
Florence Ensle, 115,
The Grasshopper, 117,
CHAPTER 1
IT WAS NOT LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
* * *
I suppose my awareness of Michigan began
at Broadview Elementary School when my teacher,
Mrs. Wooden, required us to learn the names of
all of the state capitols.
So, somewhere in the recesses of my mind,
temporarily pushing aside thoughts of basketball or
Roy Rogers, the King of the Cowboys,
was the name of a city called Lansing.
It was in a state which proclaimed itself to be a pleasant peninsula.
To this Hoosier boy, Michigan then went into hibernation
until Michigan State's basketball team and its star,
Jumping Johnny Green, visited Bloomington to play
Branch McCracken's Hurryin' Hoosiers at the old IU Fieldhouse.
Michigan State University was located in that city
I first heard about in elementary school.
Now MSU was playing IU on a wooden floor and,
because of Mrs. Wooden, I knew about Lansing.
What goes around comes around ...
especially when it is a basketball.
My dad and I sat two or three rows from the elevated floor,
thanks to Dad's boss, an IU letterman from his football playing days.
I could see the action up close and the elevated floor
may have exaggerated the jumping ability of Johnny Green.
Regardless, he definitely could jump.
Darn him!
He was probably a nice guy, but he had two strikes against him:
He had grown up in Ohio and was playing for a team from Michigan.
I mean, come on, how nice could he be?
I cannot recall which team won that game.
I could look up the score on the internet but
I do not want to risk having the game's outcome contaminate
my pleasant memory of attending that game with my dad.
In any event, those invaders from far north of Bloomington
added to the knowledge initiated by Mrs. Wooden.
I'M OK WITH THAT
* * *
When we kids were in junior high school
we talked often of the big high school we
would be attending in the ninth grade.
It was said to have many students and
I believed there was bound to be another student
with the same first and last names as mine.
Sometimes I wondered what this guy would look like.
Would he be taller than me?
Shorter?
Smarter?
More athletic?
Less athletic?
Funnier?
Well, I had no reason to worry.
He did not exist.
After a few weeks attending high school
I realized nobody else had my name.
Oh, there were many who were taller,
smarter,
more athletic,
funnier.
Kind of like guys I met later in college ...
and the Army ...
and the working world.
Over the years I became ok with that.
It helped that some of the taller guys
were not smarter than me and
some of the smarter guys were not taller.
The funny guy?
He was a good athlete but
he was not better looking than me.
Well, ok, he was better looking.
But I'm ok with that.
SWEPT UP IN THE CURRENT
* * *
When I was a teenager my parents drove to Detroit
with my sister and me to visit an aunt and uncle living there.
Dad did the driving; he always did.
It was summer and Dad took me to a Tigers game.
That baseball game was my first exposure
to the abundance of water in Michigan.
A downpour caused some streets to flood.
The drive back to my uncle's house was difficult,
especially because Dad was not
familiar with the streets of Detroit.
For some reason that rainy day
got my uncle talking about a strange place,
a place called the Straits of Mackinac.
He said a bridge was being built...
