A Celebration of Summer and My Daughter’s Return from Spain

This past week, my daughter Ally, has returned from living in Spain for the past 10 months. It is fitting that her return parallels the official start of summer. We are thrilled she is home safely and look forward to what the future holds for her.  Now that she is home and before she moves on, to her next adventure, she will be spending the summer in her “Happy Place.”

Below is her essay written in 2014.  Some delightful reminders of what makes life EXTRAORDINARY!

The Odd Luxuries of Summer –

My ideal setting, my ideal Nirvana, is a tranquil, gorgeous, open landscape that captures the essence of summer. In Cranberry Lake, New Jersey, tucked against pine trees and windy roads, I find absolute bliss at my grandparents’ lake house. In the morning, birds sing to the rising sun; at noon, young children shriek with joyous giggles and screams; and at night the crackling of bonfires echoes across the surfaces of the lake. My home away from home is where inspiration and love find me.

When you cross the wooden, rickety bridge leading from the lake cabins to the clubhouse beach, sweltering summer days begin. From the timeworn bridge – that has failed several safety inspections- you can see and hear the summer vibes of the lake. “On the count of three we’ll go; one, two, three!” children shout as they jump in the water for the first time that day. With every squeaky step I take moving closer and closer to the sandy terrain, I can distinguish life-long friends swimming in the not-so crystal clear water, tanning on the sand ironically imported from the local hardware store, or playing basketball on the hoop that is crooked and lacking a net. Practically everybody -from the age of three to 80 -asks how my family is. We are all fixtures on this lake.

I drop the turtle-shell backpack of my beach essentials on the same picnic table every day and run to greet my friends -Emma, Michelle, Kerry, James, and Kyle – friends who have become more of a family to me. We never grow bored: swimming, playing cards, or shooting hoops. For five hours, we enjoy each other’s company and create memories that will carry us through the in-between seasons.

My love for summer has been enhanced by being able to live at the place that has been a family tradition for several decades. The blue paint of the house has turned grey with visible wood lurking underneath. The interior is more attractive than the exterior, even though it creaks with even the slightest step. My grandmother is the interior decorator and has hung black and white pictures from my grandfather’s youth at the lake paired with more recent images, like the color snapshot from my brother’s high school graduation just last year.

The lake is where I am most connected to my family and to the other families who spend their summer in this pristine haven. But not everyone acknowledges the appeal -the water is more green than blue, the cottages hold fourteen people rather than the three for which they were originally designed, and there is barely any cell service. “Ahhh,” I breathe to myself, “the odd luxuries of summer.”

“So Ally, how was your vacation at the Jersey Shore?” my teachers ask when I return to school in late summer. “Actually, I spend all my time at my grandparent’s lake house,” I reply with a huge smile. And just for a short moment, I bask in the memories of grand evening bonfires and plates of S’mores, or water games of hide and seek, and of family dinners usually enjoyed amidst Grammy’s painted blue furniture.

Cranberry Lake sets the scene for an unpretentious summer, for my Nirvana.