They had warned me about the Michigan Winter. It didn’t matter that I grew up in Connecticut, a state that does a good job with the whole “being cold sometimes” schtick. The last warm weeks in November were a fleeting luxury compared to what was to come. Winter came and went, living up to all the warnings I’d received. I didn’t mind, though.

The view of the Michigan Winter from my DDOT stop

My first glimpse of the Michigan Summer came in early March. News had spread around town that the temperature was supposed to rise about 50 degrees Fahrenheit, so all bets were off. Lucky for me, that Sunday was shaping up to be pretty exciting.

There was no way I could let the first day of the Michigan Summer go by without a walk on Belle Isle. A few of my friends had prepped up a picnic, and I knew I needed to show up. My roommates all had the same idea, so we hopped in a car and made our way over.

I moved to Detroit a few months before the Michigan Winter began, betting that I’d have what it takes to stumble into Michigan with no friends or family and make it work. The people I met at Belle Isle were a mix of Challenge fellows and mutual friends I had grown close to in my time acclimating to the city. I had no choice trust that being myself would give me a few friends who could help me feel at home in this brand new place. Friend crushes are super intimidating, but sometimes they pan out okay.

Somehow it all worked. We all exchanged hugs as my roommates and I joined the picnic our friends had set up. Tall Detroit looked small compared to the trees we were under, kicking around a soccer ball and cracking jokes. A few of us even channeled our inner Lizzie McGuire and made wishes in the fountain. I can’t tell you what my wish was, but that Sunday made it pretty hard to be upset if it didn’t come true.

This is what dreams are made of

I didn’t know that my first encounter with the Michigan Summer rising from hibernation would be one of my last normal days in Detroit. Things were different when the next day of the Michigan Summer came around. I sat in my living room, watching the news change fast, the streets empty around me. The friends I had picnicked with had scattered themselves around the city, spending as much time as we could at home. Even as the Michigan Summer began to show itself again, the picnics on Belle Isle were no longer in the cards.

We made sure to roll down the windows on our drive back home that Sunday. The sun glared against the Detroit River as we crossed the bridge with dozens of other folks who had the same idea for a good Sunday as we did. Wind blew through my hair with reckless abandon, with the glow of the Michigan Summer reminding me of my Sunday well spent.

A couple of friend crushes turned into actual friends