Faith

Vacation

In August of every year, we went to Maine to our lake house. My parents always wanted to travel the world, but unfortunately, because of my dad's health, he is restricted to do certain things, and going around the world would put him in exhaustion for sure. So, we end up going to Maine every year for two weeks.

The August trip we took of 2011 was our last. It took eight hours to get there by car. Every year there was this restaurant that we went to on the way called "Bob and Carolyn's Meat Shack", even though my mother was a vegetarian. Because of that, every year she got the Supreme Veggie Lovers sandwich. My father didn't have a preference to what he wanted, but he always ordered a burger that had at least three meats on it. My brother, being a picky eater, always got Mac and Cheese and a hot dog. I never really had a preference, even though I always ordered their fries. Ah, the fries; eating those was like chewing on a cloud from heaven. The cheese that was drizzled over them made them even more perfect. They'd melt right in your mouth. Hmmm, delicious.

When we arrived, I went to my room and unpacked. The house was two stories. Three bedrooms were located throughout the house, with a bathroom in each one, thank god. My brother always found it amusing to flush my belongings down the toilet. Now, he didn't have access to my bathroom without my consent. The living room was huge, and consisted of a fold out couch, two recliners, and a bear skin rug. Don't worry, it was fake. My mother wouldn't allow my father to get a real one, even though he wanted to. The kitchen was petite, but large enough to hold all the supplies and tools required to hold up a family of four. The dining room held a table that sat six, and a fresh bouquet of flowers sat in the center surrounded by candles that our caretaker Irene prepared a few days previous of our arrival. She always traveled up there a week before to prepare for when we arrived.

The house had been surrounded by flowers, and a cobblestone walkway headed straight towards the beach. The balcony had a grill and four chairs, just the right size for each of us. But the view, it was breathtaking. From my bedroom window, you could see the skyline ever so clearly. At dusk, the ocean reflected all of the reds and oranges and purples that the sun rayed towards earth. When the moon rose, it's light shown upon the glistening sand, as if little diamonds had been scattered in the beach. It was a shame I only saw this for 14 nights, but that's what made it so special.

By the end of the first day at the beach, I was completely tanned and my brother was always burned, for he was a red head, and easily got burned. Nonetheless, he didn't mind and continued to play in the sun. We always found interesting shells and sea dollars, and kept them in a bucket at the lake house. I always found the coolest ones, but my brother always helped. We made more and more friends every year, learning new things like how to say hello in German and how to ride a surfboard. The most interesting thing I ever learned there was how to make a necklace out of a seashell.

The first night there, it was a tradition my parents started long before they had me or my brother, was to take a family picture in front of the setting sun. All of the photos, since 1987, when my parents were teenagers, hung up along the hallway in the lake house. My favorite was from 2000, my first time going. I had a little pooh bear bathing suit on with a hat, and my mother wore a blue sundress that ran just below her knees. My father wore his swim trunks and a white t-shirt. Doesn't sound like much, but it was the signal of a start of a lifetime of memories.