Having a wonderful time. Wish I was there.

I vacationed in Ludington this past summer. It was great to walk to the lighthouse, visit favorite restaurants and just pretend for a week that I lived in a small town again. I found myself falling into old habits like talking to people I didn't know and consequently made a friend of the woman working at the laundromat. I know she's my friend because she asked me to hold the fort while she took off in her car to run some errands. People don't do that in Jacksonville, Florida, which is where I live now.

It's been a year since I moved to the south and I'm getting used to it here, but there are lots of things I miss about Ludington.

I miss walking in the woods and not worrying about what could possibly land on my head and bite me. Here there are banana spiders that grow all year round. A particularly impressive specimen used to be by the gate to the back yard. It was nerve wracking to walk past something the size of your hand with eight long legs on it, but it's funny how you miss things after they're gone. Something ate it last night and all that's left are the legs. The web is still intact. So I'm thinking it had to be another spider that did it, and it's gotta be bigger than my head. At least, now it is.

I miss swimming in fresh water. Admittedly, you can only do that five days of the year in Lake Michigan without getting hypothermia, but at least it doesn't make you sticky afterward and there's absolutely nothing in there that will eat you. Here the ocean is warm from April until December, but there are a few caveats. You have to stay away from river mouths during spawning season because those are favorite hunting grounds for sharks and if you see jellyfish on the shore, it's a clear indicator that they're in the water, too. Some kind person walking along the beach told me that if you peed on the part of your body where you got a jellyfish sting it would stop hurting. This is good to know since it will make it less embarrassing when I lose control of myself from the pain when I do get stung. I can just say I was applying first aid.

I miss four seasons. There are no seasons here. Well, okay, there are, but they name them differently. Instead of winter, fall, spring and summer, it's hot, damn hot, jungle hot, and Africa hot.

I miss Ludington-scaled things, like the distance to downtown. In Ludington, downtown was three blocks away. Here, it's a half hour drive, then another twenty minutes to find a place to park, then a brisk ten minute walk across a parking lot that's the temperature of the surface of the sun to get to your final destination.

I miss going to the store and having six or eight people I know stop and say hello to me. Here, I go to the same two grocery stores twice a week and the cashiers ask me for my ID every single time. Even I'm beginning to doubt I am who I say I am.

I miss throwing my children outdoors to play. In Ludington I did this three times a day. They didn't always go, but I made the attempt anyway. Here I don't have the heart to do it. For one, right now it's Africa hot out there and for two, there are snakes. My husband keeps finding these four foot long snake skins outside in the yard. If I stopped admiring them do you think he'd stop bringing them to show to me? Last weekend I added quarter round molding to the regular molding in the bedrooms, just as an added barrier. You never know. Maybe snakes like to get out of the heat, too.

Most of all I miss my friends. The best part of our trip was seeing everyone and catching up. Email is nice but it's no substitute for sitting in the Brewpub or Chef John's and cackling loudly enough that the people at the table next to you want in on the joke.

I'm planning to visit Ludington again next year, but this time for two weeks instead of just one. That'll give me time to squeeze in a few more conversations, another beautiful sunset or two and maybe even an extra shift at the laundromat.