lake michigan, you save the midwest

what can i say? i love the lake, and so does diego...we go to the beach every chance we get. it's funny that i can remember going to the same beaches when i was not quite as small as Diego, but we do go to my old beaches. i remember being mad at my parents and running away to the lake, which was only a block away back then. now it's a car ride away, but in ten minutes we can be poking our toes through the sand and wading in the now tepid waters lapping our calves. the first few visits, the water was more like a liquid ice pack. freezing!! now it's nice, like a puddle of spring rain.
we run along the shoreline, picking up rocks, driftwood, tiny seashells. Diego stamps on any attempt at a sandcastle, mine or some other poor child, it makes no difference. his foot knows no distinction, no castle is safe from his wrath. we contemplate the water, the horizon a ribbon of blue, an inky smudge against the sky. planes, blimps, and boats enter our field of vision. flies bite our legs and we swat at the ones we catch in the act, or run back to the shore where the wind blows the buggers away. mostly, we laugh, splash, look and listen to the water. I love the comfort, the ever changing faces of the lake. where all is flat and the land has no obvious, dramatic features (prairies are lovely but sort of subtle) an oasis of blue water lapping the shore of the city is a saving grace, a blessing for it's inhabitants and a reason for chicago to have a real
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place in the natural world.