Turning on the charm

Great news for me this week.

Bob Seger's new cd "Face the Promise" is expected to be released Nov. 8. It's his first studio album since 1995. I can't wait.

The Sopranos added a "7th season" or as they say eight bonus episodes. That means 20 more episodes! The 6th season starts in March and the extra eight will start to air in Jan. 2007.

The shore at Blue Lake Resort

It's easy growing up. It just happens. It's full of moments you miss and people that are just blurry images lost somewhere in your memory. If I told you that I grew up one week a year on a little lake where cell phone waves didn't quite travel, you'd think I was crazy. But it happened. In a small, brick laden cottage surrounded by sandy terrain and cool summer days, I aged seven days each August. Sure it was only one week a year, and most of my living was spent elsewhere. But the people that moved overloaded vans and trucks into these makeshift homes know my story. Each year, I get to sum up my stories, in a couple sentences. If I have nothing to tell....it wasn't a good year. For 15 years, my family has enjoyed this vacation. This year when I returned for the first time in two years, I realized how many different shoeprints I left in the sand and I forgot how crisp the stars when they reflect off the blue water. And this time, I spent most of the week stunned at how old everyone is getting. The kids that I used to chase after in the dark hoping to flash my flashlight at them, are getting married and having kids. And the kids that were once just being pushed around in strollers are shining the flashlights and finding puppy love. The trees are taller and the cabins older, reflecting experiences only I can remember. And now that the long car ride home is over, I must tuck my memories there back inside my head... and collect new things to share next year.