Trading Bonds In For Board Shorts

Another excerpt from “Trading Bonds In For Board Shorts”:

Chapter 2: Elvis Lives

It was June 11, almost three and a half years ago, when we officially moved from the city. Everything is still a little blurry about the whole day, with the exception of actually leaving the house. Hailey and I had stuck around to make one last thorough walk through and to drive the U-Haul I had personally packed with all my electronics and work computers. We had planned on making our escape as painless as possible without making too many goodbyes with our friends.

This is partly my fault, since I admit that at my old age I have turned into a sap and am terribly weepy at goodbyes. I want them done as quickly and painlessly as possible. Hell, I’m just a sap overall. I get teary eyed at almost anything now: watching my younger brother Andy get married, Phillip Phillips grand finale singing “Home” on American Idol, seeing “Baby” get put in the corner…I think you get the point.

So, Hailey and I tried to make our escape, only to see our next door neighbors coming home from dinner from the local spot around the corner. These weren't only our neighbors, but some of our best friends to this day. While I could write a whole chapter about our friendship, let just say it all started with these three ingredients: a sleeveless t-shirt, coconut glasses filled with Tori’s rum concoction and inflatable palm trees. Don’t ask. 

So, as I’m buckling Hailey up in the passenger seat of this U-Haul to make our great escape, they come home. We said our goodbyes as it were nothing: we all hugged and we left. It wasn't until I was on the Dan Ryan heading out of the city when it hit. I cried like a baby…thank goodness Hailey had fallen asleep. 12 years in the city and now we were gone. 12 years of friends, family and memories and we just ripped it off like a Band-Aid. It hit. And it hit hard.

To ease our transition, we spent the weekend at our cottage in Sister Lakes. We had bought the cottage on a whim after driving back and forth from Chicago to Ann Arbor every weekend while planning our wedding. After driving this route over and over, we thought to ourselves: “Wouldn't it be awesome to have a cottage on a lake that was right between Chicago and home?”  

So, instead of dreaming about it, we found a way to pull it off. And it was the best decision we've ever made--besides marriage and kids. There have been so many memories built at that place that it’s really our second home. Hence, that’s why it was our safe refuge after bailing Chicago.

After nearly a month of living here in Grand Haven, we started feeling the effects of our city life in Chicago. While we loved the ability of being able to experience the outdoors and beach living here, we missed our social life from the city. We still didn't know anyone. The kids were out of school, so there was no other way to meet the parents in the area. We missed the days of walking down the street to visit friends, only to be greeted “Hey Guys! Want to open a bottle of wine?!” Dumbest question ever. We missed those days. And it was only a month.

So, for whatever reason, we had signed up as a family to run the Coast Guard 5k here in Grand Haven. None of us are really runners, so we pretty much signed up to partake only for the community activities. We just knew the Coast Guard Festival was big here…after all, this is Coast Guard City. 

A few days prior to running, I had the bright idea to bring to Tori: “Hey! We have no friends, and nobody knows us…how about I dress as Elvis and run? That way everyone knows how I roll from here on out?” I had no arguments. Only disbelief that I actually would do it.

That shocks me though, considering I have worn the Elvis costume for years. The first time actually being the night for Tori’s fundraiser in Chicago for the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer. She had trained for months to finish this walk she believed in…a marathon the first day, half marathon the second. In order to partake in it, she had to raise over $1800 in funds which were donated to the cause. 

As such, she held an awesome karaoke event at our local dive bar. What most people didn't know was that nearly half the day, I had a polyester Elvis costume hidden underneath my normal clothes. Classy. It was late in the evening of this event, that I had the KJ (Karaoke Jockey) announce Elvis singing “All Shook Up” when I popped out of the bathroom in my attire. I had grown to do this type of stuff in Chicago.

This race was different though. It was 7 am. In a town where I knew nobody. And I was sober. Thank God I had spray painted my running shoes royal blue and was by myself. I felt real comfortable…

~Kunu