Today we took a cruise to Devil’s island where the strong Lake Superior waves
from years of crashing on its rocks have created these beautiful caves.
The thunderous booms the waves made as they hit the rocks
led the Chippewa who lived there to proclaim:
This land on which we stand….Devil’s Island is its name.
In every state, city and town we’ve traveled to on this trip
(and I‘m sure as we travel more and more)
we have felt the presence of the people who walked this land before.
We’ve seen many signs…like the names of places we’ve been…
(much more beautiful in their native tongue)
And again at this stop when we discovered a dear friend’s daughter
worked at the very inn where we are staying…back when she was young.
Lena is her daughter’s name
a member of the Bad River band of the Lake Superior Chippewa
We’re sorry we never had the chance to meet her…
(If only we had power over time…and the past we could re-draw)
But knowing her mother, Monica, we know this is also to be true….
If she was anything like her mother…we would have loved her Lena too.
Knowing Lena worked where we are staying
greeted people with her smiles…walked through these halls and doors
makes this place even more special than it was to us before.
We are not always looking for sings…beside, in front…behind us
but we love it when, out of nowhere, a sign somehow will find us.
So many signs have found us on this trip…some subtle…some quite loud
license plates with our initials, four leaf clovers…angels in the clouds.
To these, with her mom’s permission,…(Monica, we promise not to make a fuss)
we add Lena to the angels in the clouds we believe are watching over us.
And every morning from now on…as we greet another day
we will repeat this simple message Lena loved to say..
We will smile…think of Lena..then whisper how life is a pretty word.
We only wish from her lips these words we could have heard…
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