Welcome to Caleb’s Corner

By Caleb Jackson Oceana Echo’s Community Columnist

Hello, and welcome all to my little corner of the newspaper. As this is the beginning of my column, I would like to take the time to introduce myself and explain a little bit of what you can expect to find in Caleb’s Corner.

Full disclosure though, I am fairly new to Michigan. I spent the first 28 years of my life on the Space Coast of Florida in a house that was only a few minutes’ walk from the beach. If ever I wanted to see what NASA was up to, all I had to do was step out onto my front porch on a launch day to watch the rockets go up. At the tail end of 2020, amidst the coronavirus pandemic, I packed up and moved to Michigan with my brother to help take care of our father. My father grew up here, more specifically in Whitehall, and while I was still in college, he was unfortunately diagnosed with ALS. Following this diagnosis, my father made the decision to sell his coastal home in Florida and move back to the tranquil countryside of his youth, where he could live out his twilight years in peace.

The transition for me has been interesting and fun. My definitions of “hot” and “cold” had to be adjusted, but early on I received some good advice from a Michigander that made surviving the winter a lot easier. “There is no such thing as bad weather,” he said, “only bad gear.” Now I find myself wearing coats through that winter that had previously only ever spent time in my closet, plus I am not shy about putting on as many layers as needed to keep warm. Something that would have seemed ludicrous to do down south.

Although I am living in a new state for the first time in my life, I don’t really get to explore a whole lot. My responsibilities tend to keep me pretty close to home. I have lived in Oceana County for two and a half years now, yet I have only ever been to Lake Michigan once, and I have never even set foot on the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. Still, I have found other ways of familiarizing myself with the local landscape. My interest in the past and all things antique has caused me to explore many unique facets of our cozy little county, and I have met tons of interesting people along the way. I look forward to sharing many of my discoveries here with you in Caleb’s Corner. You can expect to read everything from humorous anecdotes from Oceana’s past to local myths and legends. I will try to keep things as local to Oceana as possible, but if something from the broader area strikes my fancy, and I can rationalize its connection to our county (i.e., stories concerning Lake Michigan or the greater West Michigan area in general), I will probably write about that as well.

In parting, I want to thank all the Michiganders for the warm welcome I have received as a southerner on your stout, northern soil. I would also like to offer a bit of encouragement. We have had some relatively warm days this past week or two. If ever you find yourself fanning yourself with a newspaper on the hazy afternoons this summer, please think of your brothers and sisters melting away in Florida and pour yourself a nice cold glass of lemonade. Drink it in their honor, or, in my case, maybe with a bit of gloating.