I climbed to a lookout on the sleeping bear dunes, overlooking Lake Michigan. There are beautiful trees and grasses growing out of the sand. The islands were concealed by smoke from wildfires.
I heard the story of origin of this national lake shore a couple days ago. It is an Anishinaabe oral story of a mother bear and her two cubs, leaving the land of Wisconsin in search of food. In their journey they cross the lake, and the two cubs down before reaching the other side. They later emerge as islands in the water, and the mother bear watches them eternally from Michigan.
As I was walking bare foot, I felt that I was walking on Mother Bear, on mother earth’s body. I saw the concealed islands as the pain caused by separation from nature and our true selves.
Having been born and raised on Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, I felt a deep healing in this place and in this story. It reminds me that we can always come back home, that our Mother, God, whatever, always loves us and looks out for us, even if we become lost.
