Friday, January 11, 2008

Pic of the day

So, this looks pretty boring, eh? Not so, my brothers and sisters (guess what book I've been reading). This is a lake that I have visited many times. I pass it daily on my trip home from school. During the fall it has the most beautiful colors framing it.



When I was a young kid and when I was a teenager you could find me here, a lot. As a child, my mom would bring me here with some Jack-in-the-Box in hand, and we'd have a picnic. I remember one time I was walking around barefoot and stepped on a bee. That was a special moment. One winter, my mom surprised me with ice skates. In an instant I was transformed into Dorothy Hamill (well, maybe the red headed step child version). I ran down the grassy bank and at full speed conquered the bumpy ice. I did spins and I skated all over the place (ankles pointing inward, mind you--ha!). Then I became a teenager.

Oh, the lake took on a totally new purpose. In the blazing heat of the summer, my friends and I would walk or bike to the lake to scope out the talent (read: boys without shirts playing frisbee). I remember sneaking out of my friend's house one night and we walked down for some night prowling. We ended up drinking some very good screwdrivers out of a 1/2 gallon bottle of orange juice. I think I was 14. That was probably a sign of things to come in my youth. But, hey. I survived. No regrets, remember?

What's so special about that tree? I remember biking down there (my bike had no brakes--wow!) one day by myself and sitting on one of the branches of that tree or one like it. I remember watching all the people around hanging out and having fun. I remember being really bored.

I remember one night going there with a boy (NO! We didn't do THAT!). There is an entrance from a highway that leads to many a foggy car window.

Good times.

When I'm stuck in traffic next to the lake, I look over and wonder if kids ever wander away from their video games to go explore life and enjoy the lake.

Today, I made a left and just took a picture trying not to disrupt some foggy windows, walkers, and kids jogging.

4 comments:

USA_Admiral said...

Those are really great memories.

I had to wait until I left home to drink screwdrivers, my Dad would have killed me and I had too much living to do.

Sezme said...

I was doing other things besides drinking at the time, too.

My mom was pretty out of the loop. Weird, I did have a healthy fear of my mom, though.

IHeartQuilting said...

Nice picture. We hung out in a few parks back in the day, usually with a keg or whatever. Occasionally we would get rousted from somewhere.

Once we drove, we usually found someone's house whose parents were out for the night to hang out at.

Sezme said...

Thank you. I only had my cell phone on me. I want to try to carry my little camera all the time. I have a nice 35mm digital. I'll have to find reasons to pull that one out, too.

I remember going into the depths of the Pine Barrens to party. We got stuck in the sand once. Oy. :)