Never a Dull Sunset

I’m not sure what it is, but this lake has always held a mesmerizing charm for me. I’ve only been part of the Tischer family for sixteen years, but the memories from this lake are so woven into the timeline of my life, they feel endless.

My first summer at Little Pine Lake was when I was soon to be married to my husband and was frantically planning a September wedding. The busy summer schedule of working as a day camp instructor, visiting my fiance on weekends, juggling wedding plans, nervously counting the days, and planning for my family to come stay for the wedding….all of that screeched to a halt that first week of August. Because we were at the lake, and this all-powerful peacefulness settled down over me. It was calm.

I went fishing with my soon-to-be husband and his brothers. Fishing with the Tischers is always a competition between brothers….not only to catch the most fish, but to diss and zing the other brothers with deft sarcasm and laughter. They showed as much delight at the verbal one-upping of each other as they did landing a three pound walleye. Watching the sun slip beneath that level liquid endlessness in the west, I did little more than hold my fishing pole and chuckle at their orneriness, but I felt my heart grip even tighter to this family I was becoming a part of.

The daytime was just as relaxed as the evening fishing. We girls went browsing through the quaint little shops in town, spent way too much money at the scrapbooking store, and usually made an appointment for a spa treatment or massage. I quickly learned that this was the one time of year when splurging just a little was okay. Most of our daily plans revolved around food: would we order pizza again from Zorbaz? or maybe takeout broaster chicken from the gas station deli? or get sweet corn and watermelon from the grocery store and cook our own homemade spaghetti at the cabins? I was usually still full from the bakery goods in the mornings to eat again at lunchtime…the food at the lake was also memorable.

When all three brothers were married and we started adding children into the mix, it just got more fun. We brought more stuff, of course–I am still chided for packing way too much and filling the boat with nonessentials! But the kids brought a whole new excitement to our lake vacations….we spent our time blowing up plastic unicorns and shark floaties; constantly changing their clothes and putting sunscreen on them; helping them bait hooks, build sand castles, find their lost rubber duckies, bathe in the kitchen sink, and finally drag them inside crying at dark because they skipped naptime so they could play in the lake….it was both exhausting and exhilarating.

Those were my first days at the lake. Now, with the kids being a little older, it’s a little easier to relax again. While they’re still sleeping off their late-night s’mores-making and hide-and-seek-playing-plumb-worn-out-ed-ness, I take my first cup of coffee down to the water and find a big flat rock to sit on. And the lapping water reminds me again of how very thankful I am to be a part of it.

Being at this lake gives me feeling I can’t express because it’s as inclusive as the myriad of colors bouncing back from the evening skies…it’s wonder, it’s gratefulness, it’s enjoyment of even the smell of the cabin when you first walk in after being away…it is everything except dull.