Six months of the war in Ukraine was taking its toll on the troops fighting for their country...Winter was on its way and people were preparing for the worst. Unfortunately soldiers on the front lines were not equipment with appropriate gear, lots of them asking for the most basic necessities, but especially military gear. I organized an ambitious campaign to collect military uniforms through our friends who are in the military. One of my close friends, Rachel, who is currently in Ohio, answered my call for help with much enthusiasm and said, "We'll see what we can do in two weeks". Her community was extremely responsive and donated three huge suitcases worth of quality desperately needed gear.
The logistics process of how to get the donations to Ukraine has always differed depending on what and where we collect. Very frequently we collected donations and old suitcases that we then gave to someone flying to Ukraine. This time we had to figure out how to get the stuff from OH to NC-- as Robert pointed out, "It's a good problem to have".
Well, we came up with a BRILLIANT idea, in my opinion, and it all worked out! Mark had a tournament to play in Grand Rapids, MI. So he and I flew into Columbus, OH (originally was going to be Cincinnati but our flights got delayed, moved and all that), got picked up by Rachel at 1 am, then spent the night at her house and in the morning, we rented a car and drove to Grand Rapids (5 hrs) with all the suitcases and our tennis stuff. We then flew home from Grand Rapids with Southwest which allows two free suitcases per person--and it all worked out!!!
Forever grateful for my friend! She did an incredible job and made a difference for so many people!
So....back to the tennis reason of being in MI to begin with. Mark was playing in the L3 tournament, and because those are hard to get into and nothing closer was available, we went to Grand Rapids. Mark played well, but, unfortunately, lost his first match in a third set tiebreak (against his doubles partner) but then didn't go deep into the backdraw either.
We managed to have a great time despite of the losses and utilized our time wisely. On Sunday, after a close match and a loss, we decided to drive to the...lake! Lake Superior!
On the way, we stopped at the appropriately named tree.
And ate ice cream at the same place at some really famous people did, including Mitt Romney and President Bush.
When Mark first saw the lake, he just couldn't believe it was not a sea or ocean. It was enormous!!!
And cold.
We took a nap and just hung out on the beach. The weather was glorious and it felt like summer was saying its final goodbye to this part of the country.
On Monday, our flight was not until later in the afternoon, so we went to downtown of Grand Rapids.
The visit to Gerald Ford Museum was very educational and inspiring!
Mark on a field trip.
It was cool for him to see the remnant of the Berlin Wall.
And I learned A LOT about President Ford and his upbringing and the circumstances surrounding him becoming a president.
We also managed to find the nearest APPLE picking orchard! Paid a ton of money to pick a bushel of fragrant apples that we then brought home in a suitcase:).
It was super fast but rewarding.
Put'em to work! I actually was surprised how low hanging these apples were.
We stayed at a very unique place, owned by a church college nearby. It was surrounded by beautiful grounds.
Mark really does NOT like getting his pictures taken, sadly. But I needed to capture this era of his junior years as he has been changing SO much in the last year.
Some things never change though--goofy Mark is still goofy.
Before flying home, we managed to get Mark the best haircut EVER! The guy did an amazing job that I now hold as the standard for all haircuts. Considering flying to Grand Rapids for Mark’s haircuts now-hahaha.
I am so grateful we could solve our suitcase transporting problem and managed to be efficient. The suitcases were on their way to Ukraine within a week! So it was a miracle in itself. And this is how we will remember our first time in Michigan forever:).
Lyana.
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