Summer at the lake

We are fortunate to be able to return to the same spot each summer, even multiple times each summer.  True, it is a lake, although I'm not a lake person.  I'm happy to walk along the edge of the lake, but I'm not an in-the-lake person.   

Our memories are more focused on together time, the house (with no internet or cell service) on a quiet tree-lined street, the backyard, simple play, the general area - i.e., the ice cream shop, the library, the church, a few people we know, and my coffee shop. 

Two years ago, as we were all home alone, I was counting down the days until we could go there.  And the relief was palpable once we arrived.  Just to be somewhere different was such joy!  Each year, as summer draws near, and especially as this becomes more and more ingrained in me as our custom, I start looking forward to Memorial Day weekend and our first trip to the lake (or the general area, as the case may be). :)

This year, we have other things on our plate, and we aren't sure when our inaugural summer trip to the lake will be.  It will be okay.  We will survive. And more than survive.  The children are in a different season, and so our early summer days will be filled with baseball and swim lessons, VBS, and preparing for summer camp, etc. 

But I follow "my" coffee shop at the lake on Facebook, and this morning as I was measuring the loose tea for my morning cuppa, I missed my coffee shop and the delicious tea I first had there ... and the cozy atmosphere of the shop itself, and the hours I have spent reading and writing and meeting with the Lord there. 

It must mean that it's almost summer!