A Shift in Perspective

For years, you’re planning your summer days around when you can get to the volleyball courts and which band is playing at the bars that night.

Then your son is born, and soon you’re discovering every hidden playground and diaper-changing station, and the restaurants with the best kids’ menu (or which don’t mind your kid wandering into the kitchen – thanks, Randy!).

You learn what the child care shortage means not only to your son, but to your job, your employees’ lives and your own stress level. You look at roads and bike lanes and beaches through a lens of safety you never did before.

Your parents age, and you gradually grasp the value of a good hospital, of Scandia Village, of the Aging and Disability Resource Center. You nd yourself perusing the details of events in the calendar that your eyes glossed over before.

You discover that slowing down just a bit in your car, in your stride or in your speech can make someone else’s day a little easier. And on the most di cult of days, you discover how valuable Unity Hospice can be.

When I wrote my rst columns for the Peninsula Pulse as an 18-year-old, I might have largely disregarded the perspective of this older version of me. Or at the very least, I wouldn’t have found it all that interesting.

As we put the nishing touches on this issue of Door County Living, I nd myself thinking a lot about perspective, and how it evolves. You can’t read about the journey of the Hatches – Georgina, Carlin, Phoenix and CJ – without changing your perspective about what we’re capable of.

You can’t go underwater through the images of Becky Kagan Schott without feeling a sense of awe for the adventurers who open our eyes to what lies beneath.

As you ip through these pages, you’ll be introduced to Sverre Falck-Pedersen, the man in his seventh decade who can still outrun and outride almost everyone who will read this. You’ll get up at 2:30 in the morning to start baking with Dave Linstrom at Fika and head into the recording studio with Hans Christian. And you’ll travel to Horseshoe Island to discover a dose of adventure and history o the shore of Peninsula State Park.

When you’re done reading, our hope is that you’ve gained a bit of perspective about the people and culture in this place we love. And I hope they help your perspective to evolve a little faster than mine did.

Myles Dannhausen Jr. Editor