The Journey
Welcome to The Journey, a space where Mary McKSchmidt shares her transition from business executive to advocate, photographer, poet, and storyteller. Here, she invites you to walk alongside her as she explores life in the Great Lakes region, its beauty and fragility, and the bonds that connect us all.
A Bench Story from a Reader
A Quiet Spot in a State Park in Minnesota A few weeks ago, I was with my daughter’s family to help them following her surgery. Our two grandsons and I would walk each day in their neighborhood. One of the days, our son-in-law told me we were leaving at 11:00 for a...
“A Bench, a Tree and a Flower”
A Potpourri of Photography, Poetry, and PassionJoin me in Three Rivers, Saugatuck, Hastings, or Holland to hear our story “A Bench, a Tree, and a Flower” Mother, Jane McKinney, and I are members of the one in six described in the 2020 census. We are over 65. While...
Resting
Halfway through our long morning walk, Lady and I reston our favorite bench. With her back to meshe snuggles closeand uses her nose to guidemy arm around her. Looks like a Kodak picturea woman calls from the windowof a passing car. A neighbor couple walkingto the Rec...
A Bench Story from a Reader
Sitting Pretty: The Benches of GRJC "A time it was, what a time it was" goes the song...and it was all of that. It was the spring of 1969. I was 19 years old and I was finishing my sophomore year at Grand Rapids Junior...
Bench Stories from Readers
Lutyens Bench and Courtside Lutyens BenchMy Lutyens bench was designed by British architect Edwin Lutyens in the early 1900s when he worked with famed garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. I saw these benches often when I visited England in the early 90s. I coveted one for...
Bench Stories from Readers
Miracle Bench and Better Shared Miracle BenchI think of myself as having mastered both walking and talking. At the end of every trip, I would walk down the stairs to the deck to feel the breeze and see and hear the sound of the wind, the waves, and the boats....
Never Out of Harm’s Way by Mary McKSchmidt
On a bench tucked alongside the playground,a short walk to the windmill, safe distance from the coop,she tells me why she prefers not to eat chicken; how every morning the rooster watched her tiptoeacross the yard with a plate of table scraps,reach up to unlatch the...
Bench Stories from Readers
Alongside the Boardwalk, Three Wolves and The Reading Bench Alongside the BoardwalkOne afternoon I was strolling along the Grand Haven boardwalk which borders the Grand River. I stopped to rest and just admire the boats as they...
Bench Stories from Readers
A Hospital, A Church, and Clue #1 A HospitalThe first significant bench of my life was anchored on the grounds of a Hospital near the lake front in Chicago where my mother gave birth to my sister Bernice. I and two of my younger sisters were placed on...
Clue #1
A family gathers in June, a tradition that began with a mother, a widow, a grandmother, a woman celebrating the safe return of her four sons from World War II. A woman everyone called “Mom.” Even the townspeople. The year was 1948. Seventy-five years later the family...
Coffee on the Boat
She is awakened before dawn by the sparrows,not the symphony of song she hears in the forestbut the clicking of claws on the fiberglass overhead. She rolls over, on vacation, closes her eyes.Ripples drum steadily against the hullas fishing boats motor toward the...
Bravo for Benches
Do you remember your favorite bench? What made it your favorite? Would you be willing to share your story—in a sentence or two? And a photo, if you have one? At https://www.facebook.com/mary.mckschmidt1? I never noticed benches until several years ago, when my outdoor...