Thursday, July 26, 2012

Visit to Mill Lake

Every One should have a Mill Lake. A Walden Pond of sorts it changed who I am today. The small town near the lake had a very small paper and so the official kicker of the 6th grade team, the laundromat's special, who's cow won the state fair and the 4th of July parade were major features. I remember the Huckleberry Finn feel to the summer days. We had no phone - and those who had one had a party line - "a great opportunity to actually have asked people if their toilet was running and then tell them to catch it"! Lazy days with nothing to do gave way to board games and teasing the kids at the lake. Learning how to sew, how to catch rabbits, skipping stones, and creating games. No Television meant we had to talk, we had to share, and we had time to help with the canning, the picking and the yard work. My Grandmother had a wringer washer and that is how I learned to wash clothes. We never had air conditioning and we had tan, lithe bodies that ran rather than walked because every day was an adventure in the woods surrounding the lake. We hurried to get our chores done - each of us assigned a list from the youngest to the oldest - so we could rush to the lake. Laying out as if we were 16 - reading books -diving and learning to flip in the water. Today when my day gets long I call to mind Mill Lake and spend a moment revisiting those days.