I rinse my mouth, sip some. Shuffle outside. It’s just dawn, the sun peeking up red-orange over the top of the trees—all pines. Tall, green-boughed. The lake is glass-smooth, and the air smells like dawn, like dew and fresh sunlight.

Thank god, I brought my Brita pitcher, electric kettle, Chemex, coffee beans, and grinder. I set the Brita to trickling clean water for me, because well water makes shitty coffee, I can tell you. Plug in the burr grinder and grind some beans. Heat the water, and when it’s just off the boil, I slowly pour it over the grounds. Once it’s done, I pour myself a mug—I also brought my favorite mug, a hand-thrown piece Lisa made for me. Pottery was her passion and her profession, and part of what brought us together—making things by hand. That feeling of crafting something with your hands—there’s nothing like it.

For the first time in years, I sit and sip coffee and do…not a damn thing else. No cell phone—it’s off, in the glove box of my truck. No TV, no radio, no set to build. Just sit here and drink my coffee.

Off to my right a few hundred feet is another cabin—close enough to be considered neighbors, but far enough that you have privacy. Slightly larger than mine, but something in the craftsmanship I can see even from here says it was built by that same guy, Roger. Looks dark, to me. Either no one there, or no one is up yet. There’s a dock, as well. No boat at that one, but unlike mine, there’s an Adirondack chair at the end, and a little round table. Perfect for sitting and sipping something and watching the sunset; the cabins are at the south end of the lake and face north, so you’ll get the sunrise on the right and sunset on the left.

There’s no car visible at the other cabin, so I figure it’s empty for now. Whoever owns the rest of this property is not here. It’s natural to assume his wife would own it, but seeing as he gave this part to me, and a year after his death, I don’t like to hold on to that assumption. No matter, either way. I’m here for me.

I see no other cabins on the lake, just these two.