Our daughters have gone back to the city; they had long ago left the “nest”, but were up visiting and saw the new cabin for the first time. It is a paradigm shift. We are still enjoying the same lake and woods, but from a new home on the shore. There are ceiling fans, quiet stairs and privacy.

Kevin and I watched the loons this spring and from a safe distance saw their nest hidden along the shore. They carry their young on their back for a while and now all are swimming on their own. That is what we aimed for as parents and it is a funny mix of feelings when they swim on their own. There is a longing that they are gone, swam out too far, but a pride that says, “look at them go”.

The sound of the loon is unmistakable and their banter is magical. Some of these sounds are the tremolo, a wavering call given when a loon is alarmed or to say “hey I’m here”. The yodel is the male loon’s territorial claim. Each male has his own signature yodel, but it is the wail, the haunting call that loons give back and forth to figure out each other’s location, that I most associate with Long Lake and the north woods.

 

I’m fairly certain our daughters have heard us make all of these sounds, they might not have been sure what we were doing, so they would ask questions like, “Are you crazy?’ But it was just us being parents and trying to send them off into the world. Thank goodness they like to visit us and bring their new-formed adult lives into our world. We love their friends as our own children and enjoy hearing where they have all landed. It is an amazing process to watch.

 

So this morning they are back in the city of the big shoulders. Chicago is our home too, and the contrast of woods and city is exciting and shocking at the same time. We feel lucky to know them both. But for now, my kayak is waiting at the shore and that loon is circling.