Recently my husband and I decided to rent a lake house for the summer. It was a stretch for us because our schedules don’t make it easy to commit to something long term when it comes to our weekends and vacations. And yes, there was an expense involved. However, this time, with our youngest child not a baby and time’s toll creeping up on us physically, we set a couple of goals for ourselves. One, decide if the lake life might be more than a dream and possibly the future when we decide to “settle down”; and Two, fulfill our desire to expose our children to water sports before we are too old to participate ourselves.

What I had forgotten about excessive sun and water has actually turned out to be the best part of the entire thing. It makes you really relax and have fun, despite any possible effort not to (not that we don’t want to have fun, right?) This weekend, our son had purchased a “go pro” camera to film our efforts at wakeboarding, slalom skiing, and various other events.  I thought he had turned it off before I attempted my turn.  Despite my maturity, I’m not  going to let my kids call me a whimp so yes, I joined in on the fun. We now have live footage of my wonderful middle-aged stomach as I wakeboard a few hundred yards then face plant. Since I didn’t know it was on, I didn’t adjust it to get my face instead (probably good since I swallowed half the lake). And, of course, my fantastic motherly voice going “Oh shit” as it occurred was caught for posterity. It was evidence for all to say, see mom, you really do say that stuff you write about! You just don’t realize it when you say it. Gee, how nice.

Still, the sun was fantastic and left an all-encompassing warmth that permeating throughout my body. I had forgotten this feeling. This, wow, life is great feeling that came with extended amounts of sunshine, fun with family, and a heavy dose of competitive teasing and laughter.

This is exactly what I tried to portray in some of my writing when there are family events involved. The warmth, the heat of the sun penetrating into our skin, the fatigue that comes with excessive amounts of pure fun. Do I hit the mark? I don’t know. As I sat at the computer and reviewed the video recordings of my kids wakeboarding with beautiful bronzed skin, I realized that it’s virtually impossible to capture. No matter how much one tried to put these emotions into words on paper, the best and ONLY way to truly experience them was to take my fingers off the keyboard and get out there. In the sun, on the water, and soak myself in it. Soak it in so deep that when I get back here to this spot my fingers would fly over the keys and I will write whatever feels good at the time. Maybe it will appeal to the reader, but most importantly, it will appeal to me.