I Know the Plans.

Dear Blog Reader.           

I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. So many things to write about this week. It is hard to draw my focus to any one item. I am sure that you said a silent thank you for my admonitions from a week or two ago to leave your flannel sheets on your beds. The cold (down to 15 degrees in Sharrittland) of the past few days have been a toe stubbing reminder that during these last few days of March, winter can still establish its presence.

I must admit that the Sharritt household has bobbled on our commitment to cotton sheet free beds until Memorial Day. The lovely Miss Beverly is a free spirit not always standing by the traditional ways of her stolid ancestors. I believe that she understands why they were stolid. Not having antibiotics, it was vital that Gram and Dad leave their flannels on or they could catch their death from pneumonia. Now the stakes aren’t so high. You catch a late spring cold because of improper flannel installation and you can rub some antibiotics on it; take a day or two off from work binge watching your favorite Netflix show and you’re good as new; not so for our ancestors of just a few generations ago.

So the Lovely Miss Beverly on a flight of fancy removed the guestroom flannels and put on those nice cotton sheets. In a double whammy, the next guests to visit us were our lovely daughter Grace and handsome son-in-law Chris. They have left the Hoosier state this year on an infiltration trip to Michigan. They were visiting the ancestral home for a cousin’s wedding this weekend. The weather gods, sensing weakness, sent a Michigan cold blast with them and attacked when our guest room bed was unshielded by the protective powers of the flannel sheets. Emergency blankets were rushed to the room in the middle of the night, and we are happy to report that Chris and Grace only received slight injuries from the enormous weight of comforters that it took to replace the warming power of even the thinnest flannel sheet.

You may ask “why is the daughter of the lovely Miss Beverly living in that state to the north?” That is an excellent question; a question worthy of the high caliber of reader found ambling through the halls of this blog. It is quite simple really. Once a long time ago there was the Indiana Territory. The space consumed by the Indiana Territory was vast. It included the present day states of Indiana (thank you very much), Illinois, and Wisconsin. Along with part of Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio. In order to make it more governable in the time before the internet and Facebook, they divided up the Indiana Territory. In a move that continues to baffle me, the Hoosier state turned out to be the smallest land mass of the others just mentioned. Plus, we lost the naming rights to the lake to the north. Unbelievable!

It is time something was done to right these wrongs of the early 1800’s. To that end, the high command embraced a long game strategy for reclaiming the Great Lake that was so wrongly named many years ago. The high command believes that through the intrepid insinuation of our spies into the very fabric of Michigander legal and cultural society, it is only a matter of time before the map industry will enter it’s golden era when cartographers will be kept busy renaming the third largest of the Great Lakes; Lake Indiana. To that end, we have decided that our lovely young daughters can be courted by Michiganders and if our daughters find young men worthy of their nobility, charm, intelligence, and grace, Hoosier parents are not stopping the nuptials. There is much weeping and gnashing of teeth when it is discovered that said men are really making cross border raids and taking our daughters to that cold, dark, hostile land to the north, but this is for the greater good. As the tourist marketing plan states; “Say Yes to Michigan.”

Our goals were furthered this weekend as a niece was captured and taken to Sawyer, Michigan to live as part of a happy couple; to live as part of a happy couple and keep an eye on how those Michiganders are treating Lake Indiana.  Sawyer Michigan is in that 40 mile wide stipe of land just as you enter Michigan and right on the shores of Lake Michigan.  That 40 miles or so is commonly referred to as Michiana. Which is, I believe, native Michigander’s subconscious desire to really live in Indiana. You don’t see Hoosiers within 40 miles of the Michigan boarder referring to their home as Indigan. No the love is all flowing one way.

So Danielle, you and Matt take care. The wedding was lovely and you both married great people. As always it is a joy to see all of the family loving one another in celebration. Enjoy Sawyer. As Jerimiah wrote, “I know the plans that I have for you;” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me out on the shores of Lake Indiana.”

Take Care.

Roger