Lounge Sport

Lounge Sport

I stretched my legs as I jumped out of my van, after the long journey from Phoenix to Minnesota. It was great to escape the Arizona heat for summer vacations at the lake to the cabin my dad built by himself to his family 50 years ago.

Activity was revived each summer at the lake as we have raised six children. Papa got a small motorboat and every evening after work, he taught us how to ski Nautical. He could have caught, a sport he loved, but he spent his time to help us learn to balance on those heavy skis clunky they did in the fifties.

At eight years old, I fought against the waves and tried to manage my bulky life jacket. Without fear, I cling to the rope and shout "Hit it!" as he pushed the throttle forward. They dragged me as I struggled to rise, the force of water pushed against me until the rope flew from my hands with a 'pop'. Patiently, Dad would be around again and again, bringing the rope behind me to try again. Summer after summer, he performed this ritual, as six of us could stand on our own. We never heard a word. A quiet man, Dad could not verbalize his feelings. Instead, it was things for us, and basically we knew that he loved us.

What we heard was the sound of his hammer, which filled the air. Using planks of wood, he painted, he joined over empty oil barrels to build a raft for us, then dropped an anchor. We have spent the entire afternoon on the raft, sunbathing and diving in fresh water. He also built a pontoon boat for my mother, so Cruise he could it slowly around the lake to see the beauty of the lush green hills of the lake.

Each spring, he turned off the wharf and each fall he The back in. He dug an area of the cliff around the cabin, the slope down so that we can walk to the water. During endless hours he remained in shallow water and digging up rocks pitch gives us a clear place to wade Leaning in, he dug the weeds every summer washing windows, mowing the lawn and never complained. We took all this for granted, never say "Thank You".

Dad died in 1993. None us six children remained in the town where we grew up. Yet we can not bring ourselves to sell the cabin.

"Mom, look! We found another frog, my grandchildren are now with amazement, running in the grass. Find fireflies, deer snakes and fascinated my grandchildren raised in the city as they enjoy an environment of countries they had never experienced had it not been for the cab Dad built 50 years ago.

Today, I lounge in the hammock, watching the glow sunlight and dance through the water like my grandchildren to swim. Geese glide close to the head from time to time to soak in water, Search the fish. "Honk, honk," they Screech and children shout for joy, amazed that the birds suddenly decide to flee.

There is no dock again, there is no one to turn it off and bring it back every year. There are more cruise on a pontoon, no diving off a raft. There are no boat motor without water skiing, no "Hit it, Papa!" echoing across the lake.

There is just peace and calm, a respite from life in the big city. I have memories for a safer, less hectic time, when all I had to worry is the weather. I just hear the waves lap against the rocks below as I fall asleep and see the spread of the moon on the dark lake that I look outside a window. I just heard the wind in the poplars, birches and elms.

We assumed everything Dad has done for us, not knowing that was how he showed his love. He gave us all this without saying a word, in his usual calm. My father could not not pronounce the words "I love you." Instead, he left a legacy of beauty and peace of nature to his family. Now, as I sit and watch my grandchildren splashing each other and to venture into deep waters, my mind is full of memories. My heart swells with joy and I look up to heaven and murmured: "Thank you, Dad. I love you too. "

After working 20 years as an ASCP certified Med Tech, I switched careers to teach science in an inner-city high school. I’ve written a memoir about the joys of teaching and the obstacles I fought. No Child Left Behind? The True Story of a Teacher’s Quest by Elizabeth Blake on BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon at http://tiny.cc/Amazon87 Drugs, gangs, a riot, shootings, murdered students, abusive principals – all contributed to the stress which eventually drove me from the students I loved. The book celebrates triumph over adversity. To read the first page, visit http://www.elizabethblakeonline.com

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