I lake you a lot

Do you remember the game MASH from grade school? You pick potential spouses, cities, jobs, pets, cars, etc. and then a number to count through them and eliminate until you're left with one in each category? I loved that game so much I could play it all day every day. I would always name my favorite things, so I'd never end up with anything bad. There was no future I really minded, except for one category. Instead of naming a specific city, one of my friends always made you name the type of water you would live by: a pool, a river, a lake, or the ocean. The only answer I ever wanted to come up was by a lake. Nothing else was acceptable. The ocean has sand and salt, pools have chlorine, and rivers you can never just float in (although they come in second in my ranking, for sure).

My love of lakes is due to the fact that I've spent a portion of every summer of my life at Lake Champlain. I love the smell of the water, the sound of the waves, and of course, swimming in the clear blue water. Every summer, I count the days until I can be in the lake, swimming with Champ. It's definitely my happy place.

This weekend, I got a little preview of summer and lake time, when I went kayaking in the homeland with my mom. It was a gorgeous day and we spent some time paddling around the lake, checking out the summer camps along the shore, enjoying the lily pads with blooming yellow flowers. After the hard work and with burning arms, I decided to jump off the dock into the water. It was just a little icy and so I couldn't breathe for a bit, but once I got used to it, I was floating like a champ (not THE champ). The water felt so wonderful... my first "soak" of the season.