Steve Fernlund and The Long Way Home

Photo by David Johnson, Grand Marais, MN We all know the phrase "Finders keepers, losers weepers." It is commonly used in children's speech as a declaration of possession. As adults, it describes a situation where one person benefits greatly from another's misfortune, mistake, or oversight. Growing up, my best buddy was Rand Jensen, who lived one street over from our house on 17th Avenue. We were inseparable, playing ball and riding bikes, and walking to school. Our parents were also good friends, and our families often took lake vacations together.  One thing Rand had that I never quite matched was his ability to find coins and currency that were just lying on the ground. It didn’t matter where we were, he’d see money that people lost ten times more often than I did. He personified “Finder Keepers.” It was always a surprise to see his luck in action. In a decade of living near the end of the road in the woods of rural Cook County, we had no trick-or-treaters at Hallo...