Summer memories

[vaneramos]

One of my earliest memories of Lake Fletcher was a nightmare I had sleeping in the bottom bunk of Joyce MacKenzie's cabin. I must have been three or four. I dreamt that a sprite (it looked like tinkerbell but was evil as an electric shock set loose from its socket) went zooming around the space between my bed and the top bunk. I reached out and snatched it, but the thing sputtered in my hand like a sparkler and prickled until I let it go with a static crackle.

I woke to such utter darkness that waving my hand in front of my face I saw nothing. That is the only time I ever remember being afraid of the dark.

As a boy I was also terrified of the deep water and leaches. One summer at least, I refused to swim in the lake.

But I have always liked the smell of gasoline. It used to remind me of riding in Neil MacEwan's motor boat.

Now I love the silent nights with stars spread on black velvet. And I love plunging into that nectar sweet living lake more than anything else in the world. You have to work yourself up to it.

Comments

[tbone1961.livejournal.com]

I vivdly remember Boy Scout camp one weekend. A very rural campground setting. Just our troop. We all gathered on the dock for a swim in the river. After a few older guys had swum over to the distant shore and back, I thought...what the hey?? I jumped in, took a few strokes, got terrified when I realized my feet couldn't touch bottom, and started going down. It took the guys on shore a few minutes to realize I was in trouble. Then my cousin dove in and saved me.

Luckily, I moved past that, learned to swim, and have no scar to show for that experience.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

It's a cool story. Shows how gung-ho you were!

I was an incredibly cautious kid. I grew up on Lake Erie so I should have been a pro swimmer, but I was terrified of trying to swim without a styrofoam ring. Lake Fletcher was worse because the water was deep off the end of the dock. I took swimming lessons when I was about 13, but I failed the first year and had to do it over again. I didn't have the strength or stamina to have any confidence.

I gradually grew into swimming from spending summer vacation at the cottage. Then in my late 20s I started working out at the gym. Once my muscle tone improved I had a stronger stroke. I didn't feel like I was floundering anymore and I've loved swimming ever since.