Summer is a Place

A few months ago, some girls from my church were talking about our favorite summer memories. We realized that for each of us, there was a place that represented summer and all the good things that come with the season. For my friend Judy, it was a place on the Bay. Lori and Jamie each remembered lakes near their hometowns where they made summer memories. For me, summer is the beach or boating on a lake two hours north of here or lifeguarding at a lake near my home. Do you see the connection? Water. Summer is a lake or a beach or the bay.

For Steve, summer is a place on the water in Indiana …Lake James or Lake Pleasant or Crooked Lake. He spent a week on a lake in Indiana every summer until he was 12. Some of his very best childhood memories are of those vacations in Indiana. That’s where he reconnected with his Midwestern cousins and spent time with his Grandad, where he ate Tom’s Donuts and learned to water ski.

It is those memories that led us back to Indiana over the weekend. We packed up the wee small children, loaded the back of the truck with pillows, coolers, marshmallow skewers, and bathing suits, and made the long trek west…in the middle of the night….with very little sleep.

Our destination was Angola, Indiana. We made the trip as part of a caravan – three cars, four grown siblings, two spouses, eight kids, and a dog. I could feel Steve’s excitement the minute we crossed the Indiana border. He loves this place. He loves the memories that come flooding back. He loves the people who share those memories with him.

This trip was very different than those vacations from 25+ years ago. We only stayed for two nights, instead of six. We stayed at a campground instead of a rented cottage on the lake, and it was Hogback Lake rather than Lake James or Lake Pleasant. We did not do any boating, and the local amusement park was closed for the season. And for the first time in his life, Steve didn’t get to talk and laugh with his Granddad. Instead, we stopped to visit him at the family cemetery. Things have definitely changed.

In many ways, though, things were exactly as they should be. We reconnected with family. We hugged Steve’s grandma – one of the sweetest, cutest little ladies around. Two generations of cousins had a chance to get to know each other better. Steve’s brother showed his superior camping and cooking abilities. We ate steak and corn-on-the-cob and baked potatoes, all cooked over a campfire. We laughed about raccoon invasions and the interesting shower/toilet combination in a 1970’s camper. We discovered a shared love (among three generations of women) of Edward Cullen and all things Twilight. We swam in a lake and danced at a beach party. We roasted marshmallows and played volleyball. We connected our red-haired little girls to some distant red-haired relatives.

Before we left, Steve took me on a tour of Crooked Lake, and we wrote down names of realtors. I suspect that in the coming years, we will rent one of those cozy lake cottages, stay a whole week, eat Tom’s donuts, tell stories of Granddad, and teach our little girls to water ski. Because to Steve, summer is a place, on the water, in Indiana.

P.S. So what place is Summer to you?

P.P.S. Stay Tuned: Photos of our Indiana Adventure coming soon!