The Storyteller | Mary Vee

Would you like to take a virtual trip outside your home? Let's go to the beach. The sandy shores along Lake Michigan are like ghost towns. The beaches are open, as long as people practice social distancing. Even still you and I are the only one's there. We arrived at the Manistee State park. There are trails leading into the woods, and trails along the beach. Notice the color of the water. The deep waters naturally are deep blue, closer water is more of a teal. But the water by the shore is an unusual color. The light brown color is sand. MIchigan had an unusually high amount of precipitation last year, filling the Great Lakes.  The higher levels are washing the sandy beaches and dunes close to the water out into the lake. A few homes have had the ground underneath chiseled out by the lake. Here it looks like the cost of Ireland. Beautiful green atop a sandy cliff leading down to the water's edge. ...

Grandma adopted my mom. She and grandpa had tried to have their own children for many years. The decision to adopt came on a whim one day when the neighbor across the street volunteered to babysit a little three-year-old girl. The little one twirled outside in her frock. She played with the toys and laughed.  Grandma crossed the street, curious about this new visitor. The neighbor said, "Her mother  only recently died. There are five children, and the father doesn't know what to do. He says he can care for the older three children, but feels he must let the two little ones go for adoption." Grandma watched the little girl play. Not long after, Grandma and Grandpa signed adoption papers changing my mom's name and giving her a new home. They lived on a large rectangular plot of land more deep than wide. Grandma cooked and sewed everything from scratch, including mom's clothes. In her free time she made quilts. Keeping in  her frugal budget, Grandma took...