Friday, April 9, 2010

lime lake.

remember when summer was freedom and fun and warmth and days filled with endless possibility? like, pretty much every summer before your teenager years? remember sometimes getting bored with summer! ha!
my childhood was amazing. sure, i had all the same self esteem/sibling issues and blah blah blah but it was magical and safe and privileged and i look back on it fondly and with a fierce nostalgia...
this is the cottage i grew up at during the weekends and summers near buffalo. everything about this place i have memorized. the broken stairs, the grade of the steps, the smells, the sounds, it is all still there, just as i left it...exactly the same.
my grandfather built this cottage before my mother was born and she spent her life here too. she met my dad up at the lake when my aunt rented a house a few doors down. every neighbor is an intricate part of my upbringing. this place never feels far away when i am there. despite my drawly southern accent (i know, right! me?) that sticks out like a sore thumb and the fact that teh hair sticks up on the back of my neck when most people talk in their buffalonian whines...coming here is instantly relaxing. it fits.
my parents spend their summers up at the cottage now but the reality of this place (unless i get that sugar daddy i've been wishing for sooner than later) is that it will probably have to be sold when my parents are no longer around...this breaks my heart but a tiny little, high maintenance shack several states away with property values that exceed my sisters and my home combined is just plain ridic.
my mother tells me how her father stood in this spot and told her to never, ever sell this place. i hurt when i think about this because if my father did this to me i would hold that pretty dear too...thankfully my dad sees the situation as i do. practically and realistically.
so i am sorry ahead of time, grampa. but thank you for the years of childhood bliss and adventure this place gave me. my memories of you are faint but they are almost all at this place...and if you see a sugar daddy near feel free to kick him in my direction and all will work out in the end... :)

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