Cindy and Dad

 

Cindy shared this picture recently.

It brings me so much joy.

I have two quotes that swirl in my brain about reminiscing and memories.

"Remember When is the lowest form of conversation."

~Tony Soprano

AND

"Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories."

~An Affair to Remember (1957)

I'll go with Debra Kerr's line in An Affair to Remember any day and every day.

(And not because the movie is from the great year that I was born)

Things I most remember about summer vacation in Hayward Wisconsin:

Swimming.

Dad Fishing.

Cleaning fish in the tiny fish house.

Mom frying perch.

Outboard motors.

Bull frogs.

Chipmunks.

Snakes.

Rocks.

The long drive.

The quiet contest on the long drive.

Being car sick.

Coasting on dusty gravel roads.

Little cabins.

One big cabin for our big family.

Bear hunting at the dump.

Ken's Milwaukee Inn.

The Irvings.

A drive in movie. 

Pink Panther.  

(I bet I'm the only one who remembers this)

and 

fireflies.

Mom and Janice

Esther Jean.

Nancy in front of our cabin.

Jimmy and Cindy and Dad

Truly the highlights for me were swimming

and coasting up and down the hills as dad put the car in neutral.

We would pick up speed as we rolled downhill and and scream with excitement as we neared the top of the next hill.  

"I blinked and the images were gone. But I remembered how the laugh and the howl and the splash would ripple and echo in the stillness of our lake, and I wondered if ripples and echoes like those ever fully die away, if somewhere in the woods my father's joyful yelps still bounced quietly off the trees. Silly thought, but there you go."

~Coben

Hayward was cooler than Elmhurst.

Every moment was spent outdoors.

I swam and swam and swam and then

enjoyed the late nights checking in on the fish cleaning shack;

totally grossed out by the fish guts.

The smell of Off was strong.

I remember the sound of lapping water and frogs croaking.

Visits to Paul Bunyans were yearly. The donuts a highlight.

The donuts that would make our dad mad.

He wished he had seven boys to get his money's worth at all-you-can-eat Paul Bunyans.

But the milk was cold in the metal cups and the donuts sweet. 

Who can blame us?

We couldn't eat like boys.

As I imagine what my days were like,

I envision myself a wee bee visiting flowers.

Casual, quiet, simple

visits around the resort

with a lot of swimming.

But bees don't swim.  hum??

Otter.  I'll be an otter.

I will see some of my sisters in a few weeks. 

I'll ask them what their main memories were of 

our vacations in Hayward.  It's fun to hear the totally different experiences!

Cindy will have boat memories. (there is another smell, outboard engine gasoline)

 I may have one early morning boat memory, if I squint real hard.

Did you go somewhere every summer?

I was a little fascinated by families that would take long car trips.

It's a really nice tradition.  I tried to implement regular summer vacations. I managed four-ish to  little cabins on lake Minocqua, but I went alone with the children.  We visited sisters in Missouri and took a trip or two to California and Arizona. 

I'm thankful for all of it.

Reminiscing is good.

What does Tony Soprano know?

Encourage one another,

Donna aka Otter. 

haha....