Welcome to Families First Monthly

From the Heart (June/July)

History has a large place in our June/July issue. There is a feature story on the area museums, a historic sites walk through history in Traverse City neighborhoods, the Cherry Bowl Drive-in, Sleeping Bear Inn in Glen Haven, Saint Wenceslaus Church in Gills Pier, Crystal Mountain 60 years, and more. I hope you will enjoy visits to many of the locations which speak to you because history is all about telling stories of the past.

I am excited to participate in a summer history event which evokes cherished memories from my childhood.  I’ll host at my favorite and wondrous Overlook Road family barn (1960-70’s) during the Northport area Leelanau Barn Tour on July 12.  Oh, the stories I can tell about making forts in the hayloft, those wild wonderful barn cats and kittens, our hay conveyer climbing toy, and the marvelously high beams. Our mother didn’t know (so we thought) we walked across them. Later after we moved to a different home, my brother and sister kept their horses there.  I often complained about driving them to the evening feeding. Now I wish I could have that barn just outside my door. In my minds eye I never left it and it’s always there for me—to explore,  play and feel a sense of independent in.

My second favorite barn is a large Quonset-style, located on our grandparent’s former farm just north of Omena. I remember the smell of silage, and the dancing dust in the sunbeams as it fell into the long steel feeding troughs just before their cows came in.

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads and father figures. We need you.
Thank you for reading and have a safe and happy summer.

Laura Lee Kalchik