Like being punched in the stomach. Or dipped into a warm ...

Like being punched in the stomach. Or dipped into a warm lake, then roughly pulled out. Today, this morning, homesickness for the Northwoods washed over me in an overwhelming wave of memory and sunshine and water. It's not all that unusual, since about a year ago today I had just begun my new life up there, but the magnitude with which it hit... If the fire in your belly could become a flux capacitor, I'd be on the dock right now, sitting cross-legged and staring out at the sparkling water of Crystal Lake...or breathing in the pine as I hiked along the forest trails in my favorite "I live in the woods!" flannel shirt...or walking down the sunny streets of Hayward, plotting to get Adam to an early Happy Hour on the Angry Minnow patio.

It wasn't a perfect summer, but damn...I was pretty lucky, to be up there, in the woods, when I was.