Summer Reflections - Getting Older

Summer Reflections - Getting Older

My Lake Beseck memories took on another life when I met Cathy. Her family lived directly on the lake and the house was complete with a dock and power boat of their own, screened in porch and double seat swing overlooking the lake under the shade tree. Looking back, it could have been a setting for a movie. There were always swans swimming along the shore and there was always a fishing pole nearby to grab and walk to the end of the dock and cast a line trying to catch a large mouth bass. What a place to spend the summers.

Now going boating on the lake had another dimension.  We would hang out on the lake together and pull up to the dock in front of her house. Her mom would always have a cool drink and a snack ready for us and her dad was ready to cook hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Cathy’s family always made me feel welcome and I thoroughly enjoyed being with and getting to know all of them. We eventually got married and I truly became part of their family and they became part of mine.

As Cathy and I had our own children, Lake Beseck took on yet another chapter in our lives. Our kids had the benefit of experiencing the lake creating their own memories and we enjoyed everything all over again. We were now the parents sitting up on the porch watching the kids out in the boat all day water skiing or tubing behind the boat. We were too old to ski because the pain would be felt for many days after. We would drive the boat on occasion for one of the kids to ski but our boating had been reduced to a slow drive around the lake at sunset and reliving the countless memories at the lake and how each year we would be creating new ones.

Another chapter of Lake Beseck memories are yet to be forged. Cathy’s sister, Joan and her husband Rick have purchased the lake house and will be building a new home for them to spend their retirement years. It will be a gathering place where we once again can sit up on the porch, fish off the dock and sit on the swing under the shade tree by the lakefront.  Another generation of memories to be made, more burgers, more boat rides and more laughs.

It has been over 50 years since I first went to Lake Beseck and my life is all the better as a result. I have fabulous childhood memories growing up. I met my wife there and had a great time raising our kids there. It was and always will be a special place to Cathy and I, our children and the rest of our family. I look forward to many years ahead, God willing, to creating those new memories. I hope everyone has a special place like a Lake Beseck in their lives.

Until the Next Tom’s Take………..