Summer Reflections (again) (8/15/2014)

In my last Tom’s Take I was talking about my childhood summers at Lake Beseck in Middlefield, CT.  Those memories will be forever cherished and are part of who I am as an adult. Just as we mature in life, what we did as kids during those summers matured as well. As we got older, those days of the king of the raft got fewer and farther in between. What happened is that our dad purchased a small power boat.  Now it was time for true water sports.

During the summer my dad took Wednesday’s off from work so we could use the boat more than just on the weekends. Our cottage was not on the water so when we wanted to use the boat it had to be trailered to the local boat launch. That is what Wednesday’s were all about. After a big breakfast, we would hook the boat and trailer to my dad’s hitch on his jeep and he would tow the boat down to the lake. Once in the water, dad was the captain and he would take us around the lake and explore all the nooks and crannies around the shore. We would be ready with our fishing poles and we all would have our turn at catching a bass, perch, sunfish or whatever we would come across. We even had turns at driving the boat.

As we got older it was time to learn to water ski. My brother Mark who was 3 years older was definitely the best skier and he had even mastered the art of skiing with one ski or slalom. Greg and I started with boogie boards and worked our way up to two skis. Every once and awhile, we would ski 2 people at a time behind the boat …..that was a blast. We would spray each other using our skis and we would do the crossing pattern where we would change sides of the boat by crossing each other’s path. One person had to go under the others tow line. It always made for an interesting day.

As we got even older still, Mark got his driver’s license. He was able to negotiate a trailer on the back of a vehicle so that expanded our water ski opportunities. Just as we would spend all day on the beach and raft, now we were spending all day on the boat. Life was good. We would all chip in for gas and oil and there was a gas station right on the lake so as long as we had money, we were on the boat. Life was good. We got to know other boat owners around the lake so that lead to different skiing opportunities. Our boat was not powerful enough to pull more than 2 skiers. One guy had a boat that pulled 4 of us at one time. It was crazy, good clean fun.

The best part of this summer fun is this is how I met Cathy. Her parents also had a house on the same lake. We were friends to start and then we began dating. Well that was about 35 years ago and now two grown children later, she is still my best friend.  I will write more about that another time.

While writing this I got lost in my thoughts about my childhood summers and escaped all reality for a few moments. I hoped you did too and enjoyed some of my summer reflections….again.