Michigan is a state of contrasts.
We have enormous cities, fading industrial giants, quaint small towns, and huge patches of wilderness.
You can drive an hour in any direction and find something you’ve never seen before, that’s the blessing and the curse of Michigan. Most of my formative childhood years were spent in near-isolation, far away from any city or town. My parents were both survivalists and doomsday-preppers, so that was my grim upbringing. The brightest spot of my year was the summer vacation, when I was sent to Lowell to stay with my Uncle Mike. Mike was my dad’s brother, and didn’t agree with all the “end of the world” stuff my parents believed. He loved me, though, and welcomed me to Lowell every year for over a decade. At this time cannabis was not yet legal in Lowell, so Uncle Mike grew weed plants in his garage. Eventually I was old enough that I asked Uncle Mike if I could move to Lowell and live with him. He agreed, on one condition – that I earn my keep by working for him in his new cannabis dispensary. Since the state laws had changed, he wanted to open the first legal cannabis shop in Lowell, and he needed some help. This was a dream come true, because not only did I get to move to Lowell, but I had a job in a cannabis dispensary! The cannabis shop was so successful that I was quickly able to earn enough money to move into my own place, an apartment near the heart of Lowell.