Each of us has our own personal universe so to speak. It’s an area wherein most of our life is played out. Our livelihood, activities, entertainment, most social connections, and favorite fishing holes are found there. It’s our comfort zone.

For some, a universe can be as large as the world itself where new adventures regularly trump familiarity. For others, a universe is little more than a dot on a map representing a community where all of one’s wants and needs are close by. But a universe can take any shape. For example, the shape of a dumbbell could represent summer life in Minnesota on one end, a route of travel, and winter life on a Florida beach on the other.

My universe is shaped like a light bulb – not very flashy as far as universes go. At the bottom of the bulb – the southern end, lies the Twin Cities area. I have family and friends there along with several professional sports teams, a state fair I must attend, a Cabela’s store, and cultural offerings for when my culture meter is getting low.

My wife would suggest my culture meter needs recalibration or perhaps it’s even broken since my appetite for culture is so easily satisfied. I don’t think it’s a fair assessment. I appreciate museums, concerts, art galleries, a zoo, and stock car races as much as the next guy. The problem is that these things conflict with fishing. The only free time I have for culture is a few weeks in spring when the ice is going out. Even then, I should be restocking my tackle box and getting the dock ready to put in. It can be a problem, but we work it.

Traveling north through my universe from the Twin Cities to Duluth is rather uneventful. That is, if one can call eating a Toby’s nut-covered caramel roll while driving in 80-mph traffic “uneventful.” I assume most of these motorists are going fishing, so I understand their need for speed. I only hope they’re paying attention to their driving and not on the nuts dropping off their caramel roll. Upon reaching Duluth, my universe quickly expands into a large circle that starts along the North Shore of Superior to Grand Marais, then westerly to Ely, north to International Falls, down towards Bemidji, over to Grand Rapids and back to Duluth. My wife and I find ourselves in all its reaches over the course of a year for one reason or another.

My universe has a wealth of natural beauty with rivers that run north, south or east. It also has the largest river in North America, the largest lake in the U.S., a national park, national forests, Eagle Mountain (highest peak in MN), and the lion’s share of Minnesota’s 11,000 lakes and the fish therein. One of my favorite places, our cabin, is located on a lake (Vermilion) that has an island on it with a lake on it with an island on it. Not many folks can say it let alone understand it.

Of course, my wife and I venture out for short forays to other galaxies too. We check out the close ones – Canada and Mexico – and even take in a different continent on occasion. We also go to the Universe of Wisconsin to visit relatives and stock up on cheese. Wisconsin might not seem like another universe, but then you probably haven’t been around the Green Bay Packers’ faithful much.

But no matter where we go outside our universe, within a week or two, we miss home – the quiet, the water, the woods, the wildlife, and the good fishing that makes it a special place. Now you’ll have to excuse me as I have to clean up the boat and replace line on the fishing pole. The fishing opener (a national holiday in my universe) is almost here. May your minnows be lively, your seas calm and your catch better than average.

Leo is retired and lives in rural Cook with his wife, Lindy. He is the author of three books, She Won’t Mow the Daisies, The Cabin Experience, and Life Over Easy. Leo can be contacted by email at llwilenius@gmail.com.