If you drive for two hours north of St. Paul, you will run into a little industrial town on the bank of Lake Superior. I recommend you do it with your best gal and a couple of pals. I recommend you eat at a historically protected dining car in downtown St. Paul before you go, get your coffee refilled once by the no-nonsense waitress as you have a grandma-esque Belgian waffle or sausage patty.
Once you get there, just marvel at the Great Lake. Look out at the tanker in the distance. Watch the drawbridge that lets ships, barges, and sailboats alike into the area that feeds into the St. Louis River. It goes straight up and down. Someone spent years of their life designing that sucker, and it is impressive. Take a moment to be thankful that you've been able to see three Great Lakes (Michigan in Chicago and Erie in Cleveland) with this same 'best gal'. She's having a birthday, and it is a wonderful scene for her to celebrate. She is dealing with getting older, having things slip out of her life rather than seeing everything as an opportunity like birthdays feel when we are young. But she is beautiful and perfect and on the banks of the great lake, she is happy.
Then go have dinner on Highway 61. Stumble on Bob Dylan's old stomping grounds. Enjoy yourself and think about how far you've come in a year. You've conquered demons, found love in a myriad of different ways, including love for yourself and the world around you. Have fun with that. Drive home listening to good music and remember seeing Modest Mouse on Friday, Eileen Myles before that, and how thankful you are to have so much art, culture, and beauty in your life.
Think about what you can do to show this gratitude. Then do that. Make a cake or something.
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