A Favorite Memory

I'm sure each of us have favorite memories from childhood. I know I have several, but a photo I saw today on That Kind of Woman sparked a memory I haven't thought about in years.

My parents took our family to Canada often. We grew up in Rochester, NY and with that little pond called Lake Ontario in between us, we were pretty much on the border of Canada. 

One summer, they took us to a gigantic lake with thousands of little islands. I was maybe....9 years old? We parked our big, blue conversion van at the shore. Family friends picked us up in their speed boat on the dock, and we took off for their island. 

It could be a romanticized memory, but I remember arriving and seeing a thick layer of fog atop their portion of the lake. I remember trees, huge boulders, a trail. It was just so rustic! Something I'd read about in the Boxcar Children!

We stepped off the boat on their wooden dock and hiked up to their home, one of two on their island. As a child, I remember being so fascinated that people could own islands. How would you go to the grocery store? What happens if you break an arm? Logistics questions....even as a child. boy oh boy.

We settled in. I remember a bear skin rug and thinking it was the coolest because it was real! I wondered if there were bears on their island. Maybe our friends had killed that very bear themselves and made him into a rug!

I caught my first fish here - totally by accident. I was trying to make the fake lure fish look like it was swimming in the water, and out of no where a (t.........h.........i..........s) HUGE fish took the bait. I hadn't even contemplated what I'd do if I actually caught a fish. So, naturally, I screamed bloody murder. My parents and our friends came running full speed down the hill, thinking I had chopped off a leg or was being eaten by a moose. I was in a little trouble....but they also laughed to see I was screaming at a fish (ok, it wasn't that huge of a fish. but it was still scary).

I remember kayaking from their big island to smaller, surrounding islands. I had my very own kayak. I thought that meant I was a grown up. I remember how perfectly flat and still the water was. I remember watching dragonflies land next to me, and it seemed like the ripple they made were the only movements on the whole lake. 

I just remember relaxing and being totally out of touch with cities, cars, noise, TV, gameboys, walkmans, anything. It was me, my family, the lake, and nature. 

It was perfect. I love memories that flash through your brain when you smell a simple scent, see a photo, a person.... Makes my days feel bigger and better.