I was driving around St. Paul last night, and as I turned around a corner, I caught the light that came between two trees at the end of the road. It was about a mile away, and for an instant I thought it was the ocean. It only took me a moment to realize it wasn’t. For one second I got that feeling I did as a kid driving to the beach.

There was a beach on the north shore not too far from our house. We would drive by a huge mansion to get there. The perimeter of the mansion had a long white wall with huge arches, and on a clear summer morning, between each arch, you could see the blue of Long Island Sound. I just loved the sight of it. I would get all nervous and exited. For one brief moment yesterday, I felt like I was in the back of my mom’s old comet on the way the beach.