Saturday, February 23, 2013

Fire On Ice

The guy from down the shore picked me up from the airport Thursday evening.  I'm glad he picked me up rather than the cops.  In Denver, some guy named Evan tried to take over my seat on the plane for my final flight back to Detroit.  Typically I would be open to such an exchange, but this seat came with extra leg room, so I didn't feel like gifting my seat away.  After some resistance, and some flight attendance assistance, Evan got up, and took his assigned seat in the row ahead of me.

To be honest, I didn't think much of it.  But when we landed in Detroit, rather than letting us off the plane, the flight attendants made everyone stay put.  They explained we needed to sit back down to make room for some people to get through.  The two people who came on board were policemen. They went directly to Evan's seat - the one he tried to get me to sit in - and escorted him off the plane for who knows what reason.  An 8 year old girl sitting near me suggested, "I think he did something inappropriate."  I suspect she is right; Evan did something inappropriate.

Lesson learned: Don't exchange airplane seats with strangers.

The guy from down the shore got me home safely, and the next day I received a facebook message from him about a late night steak dinner.  So last night I headed down the shore around 9, joining 5 others for an 11 pm Sand Lake dinner.  And following our meal, I did this for the first time ever:


I went ice fishing! 

I didn't start hanging out with these 3 guys until this past year.  But evidently they use to hike down the shore, to my cottage, to watch Inspector Gadget with my big brother when we were all kids.  Our families have all had summer homes on the South Shore for years - one since the late 1800s, one since 1911, and one around the same as me, the mid 1940s.

One of the guys told me he remembers my sister, but not me, from when we were all younger.  He asked me if I use to be shy.  And the answer is yes.  I was back then.  Funny how someone who hardly knows me can know me that well.  I explained to him, with the dominant personality of my sister, and the comedic humor of my brother, there was little room for me to get a word in edgewise growing up.  So, for the most part, I defaulted to quiet and reserved - and especially so around boys. 

He then went on to speak of childhood memories on the lake and exploring the closed down summer camp.  It was as if he was speaking my own past to me - somewhat eerie, but also amazing.

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