Storming the Beaches.

In the late 70’s and into the 80’s my Grandma Judy owned a resort in Northern Minnesota. Some of my fondest childhood memories are associated with the resort: dunks in the minnow tank, an ice cream cone when you were good, a seat on a pickle bucket when you were bad, not tall enough to see over the pool table at the motel but still able to master the cue that they cut down for us little folk, being tossed in the lake on my birthday, filleting fish while vacationers stood and watched, heck for that matter – catching fish while vacationers stood and watched. My memories of Cal’s Resort are all good.

One of my grandmother’s favorite stories to tell is about a time when my sister and I just pulled in to town after spending the school year in Illinois with our mother. As kids of divorced parents, we spent the school year in Illinois and the summer in Warroad. It was always hard to say good-bye to one home but also a time of happiness to reunite with friends and family at our other. After 14 hours in the car from Aurora to Warroad, my grandmother was waiting with open arms as my father pulled in to the restaurant lot. Grandma Judy was expecting the biggest hug as I dashed from the car – right past her and out on to the dock.

“Just a second Grandma, I have to say HI to MY LAKE!”

Now she never really tells anyone how old I was in this story of hers. I’d imagine that I was still young, maybe 6 or 7. But the truth is, I could have been 10, 15 heck 20 years old! I love Lake of the Woods.

I love my Grandma too.

Officially, my cousins and I were always referred to as Cal’s Beach Bums. We even had shirts that proclaimed it. It was a title that I felt was earned and never lost. Although Lake of the Woods is expansive at 1,679 square miles and it lies in two Canadian Provinces and my home state of Minnesota, I’ve always felt that it was MINE. Like the crazy Irishman from “Braveheart” that thinks Ireland is his island, LOTW is MY lake. I’m most comfortable playing on its shores and fishing anywhere on its great surface. As a testament to this, I professed my love for Michele and asked her to marry me on a cold and dreary March day overlooking the lake at the mouth of the Warroad River.

The water calms me.

I’ve been around the world a couple of times as a Marine Raider. I’ve ran the beaches of Coronado, California with a rifle in hand and walked across the sand at San Onofre with a surfboard in hand too. I frequently tell stories of rolling around like a sugar cookie on the beaches of Okinawa in the middle of one clear night, long ago. The Marine Corps brought me to Waikiki, Perth & Sydney.  At each place, the water set me at ease. Uncle Sam also put me in places like Bahrain, Penang and Mogadishu. The shoreline and breaklines were vastly different yet somehow always the same.

On my mother’s side of the family, my Grandpa Paul was killed by a driver “under the influence” while I was just 4 months in to my Marine Corps service. The American Red Cross got a hold of my superiors and some officer told me the news of the wreck. I was going home for a funeral and to see my hurting grandmother as soon as possible. With my world upside down, I headed in to the town of Oceanside with a couple of buddies. At sunset, we walked under the pier at the water’s edge. I vividly remember the calm Pacific Ocean waves that lapped lazily at the shoreline and helped clear my mind.

Nowadays back home, my family has taken to the rocky shores of Lake Superior. Over the years we have chucked rocks, gathered tadpoles and from time to time, been brave enough to take a dip in the icy waters of Gitchi Gummi. I hope that Emma, Logan and Tyler feel the same serenity and safety I felt as a child with the sand between my toes and the waves calmly playing a soft beat on the shore.

Today is Saturday September 5^th, 2015. It is Labor Day weekend. In Minnesota my family is on one last camping trip before their school year starts. Here in Kivalina, I have survived 3 weeks already. I am securely in to my third month away from what was normal.

After sleeping in a bit, I knocked out some morning calisthenics and could tell that today was going to be another gorgeous morning in the Arctic. For as bad as the storms and rains were last week, we have been repaid with wonderful weather the past few days. Temperatures tickling the 60’s. High sunshine and little to no wind have made me want to be outside every chance I can get. So after working up a sweat with some basic pushups and the like, I decide to go for another run.

Now, I have trudged up and down the beach a handful of times already. I’m on a mini-mission to eat healthier and to make better decisions about my vices - like pop, chips and over-eating. With that, I’ve started to enjoy lots of walks around the village and an occasional run when the Good Lord moves me. Lately, He’s moved me more often. The runs have ben therapeutic, like writing.

This morning was no different.

The Chukchi Sea was at its calmest. The waves rhythmically crept in and out. The steady weather of late has stabilized the sand and gravel and compacted things where they meet the water. I’m not setting any land speed records. I’m forty. But I just tilt my head up, look at the mountains in the distance, breathe in the clean ocean air and keep picking them up and setting them down. Each day I’ve made it farther up the coast and with each run I feel that much better.

It’s almost like one long ongoing prayer in my mind when I run here. Sometimes I slip and cuss under my breath when the water gets too close, or the sand gives way and makes running more difficult. But all in all, the positive thoughts far outweigh the negative ones when I’m at the water’s edge.

And although it wasn’t the beach at Waikiki, Hawaii or Buffalo Bay, Lake of the Woods – two of my favorite places in the world to swim – I decided to take a dip in the ocean at the end of my run. I’m glad that Dennis was on his porch looking out at the crazy Naluagmiu undressing down to his shorts. I may have chickened out. But I didn’t. Today I went in warm and came out cold. Self-Baptized on the beaches of the Chukchi Sea.