It’s been more than a year since I’ve been back to the homeland and man, does it feel good! After two weeks of fulfilling my friend duties (weddings, baby showers, overdue catch-up sessions) I’ve found myself on old stomping grounds – Sauble Beach.
Some of my most fond memories as a child were spending my summers at Lake Huron’s Sauble Beach. I was none too happy about my parents’ decision not to get a cottage. At the end of the school year I would hide away while friends spoke of their summer plans. I was all too envious of those spending their summers at the family cottage and others who returned back to their fun summer camps, year after year, reunited with their summer camp friends. As materialistic as this may sound, as a child this is what I longed for. And I? I was signed up for things like Engineering Science Quest (ESQ), silk-screening camp (what parent signs their kid up for silk-screening camp? I mean…really!) and other camps that my parents thought (hoped…) would help us “build character”.
You can only imagine my elation when one year, during the summer after Gr. 7, I was invited to a friend’s cottage for the summer. “Yay!!! I’m finally going to have a NORMAL kid summer”. And thus began a tradition of a string of summer getaways at the one and only, Sauble Beach. I became an extended family member and my days were filled with adventure-seeking, exploring the downtown area, going out on the boat and experiencing all the water sports I’d missed out on, while my nights were filled with girl talk and dreams of not waking up from my childhood paradise. Parents, just as a quick FYI, THESE are the moments that stay with a child and THIS is what builds character.
I’ll write more on the joys of cottage living in a bit…but for just let me relish walking down memory lane