Memories...

On the way to work this morning, I got to thinking about two of my favorite memories from growing up.

One of the memories was sparked by the story in the news about the elderly gentleman who was lost in Kanawha State Forest, and fortunately found alive yesterday. When we lived in Hurricane back between 1996 - 1998, my parents hosted Thanksgiving for my dad's side of the family. Everyone came down, and we were having a great time. My cousins and I were all close back then, so it was fun every time we got together. The weather had been exceptionally warm, so we decided to go to Kanawha State Forest. The guys - my dad, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Brian, Uncle Terry and Grandpa Roger - took the kids to the park to go for a "hike." The kids included: me, my brother and my cousins: Annie, Aaron, Eric, Austin and Paige. At this time, Paige - who is the youngest (at 16 now!!) was about 3, getting ready to turn 4. So, we are walking and talking and having a great time. Then, we realize that somehow the path is no longer marked. So we keep walking, and the guys realize that they have no clue where we are. The younger kids didn't catch on, they still thought we were on an adventure, but my cousin Annie and I knew something was going on.

We kept walking trying to find our way back, and we started hearing the guys talk about how it was going to get dark soon and questioning what we should do. We somehow stumbled back upon some markers - I don't think the paths there are very well marked, especially if you are unfamiliar with the park - but none of it looked familiar. The younger kids were still just having a blast! By some miraculous turn of events, my Uncle Kevin looked down and saw a road. As we walked toward it, he then saw our car. We were at the top of the "mountain" and he said, "we're going down." Now, this isn't like a hill. It was a steep grade. The guys went down with the kids, but then Paige was handed off to me and Annie to take turns holding. It was a crazy experience. The grade was so steep we were literally sliding down the mountain until we would get to the next tree/branch to hang on to. The guys helped us all, but it was a little scary because if you lost your footing, you'd definitely fall.

We were so fortunate that day to not have to spend the night in the woods - by the time we got to the car, it was getting dark. When we got home, of course all of the women were worried sick. They told us that had it been much longer, they were going to call the police. This is still back before everyone carried a cell phone - so they had no way to contact us and we had no way to contact anyone else for help. We would retell that story for years when we'd all get together for Thanksgiving. Every now and then, if the whole family is together, that story comes back up.

Another great memory came to mind because of this one - the same people were involved. Every year when we were little, our one summer vacation was to get together at Dale Hollow Lake (and then it moved to Lake Cumberland), which is on the Tennessee/Kentucky border. We'd always rent a houseboat for the week, and hang out boating, skiing, and just having a great time. Over time, my aunt and uncle purchased a houseboat, so we'd still go every year but we had a much nicer boat to play in. Side note: they just purchased their biggest houseboat yet - it's like, 90' long and 20' wide - MONSTER!! I hope to make it down sometime with Lauren to see it. One year, we decided to go down there for a fall trip. It was the weekend of Halloween - not sure which year, but I know we were living in Hurricane at the time. It was the best weekend down there. The air was a little chilly, but the water was soo warm. I remember my cousin Annie and I would hop on the jet skis and literally throw ourselves off so that we could warm up. Skiing was fun then, too, because the spray of the water on you just felt soo good. We had a bonfire on the land, and told lots of ghost stories. It was awesome to say that we had been jet skiing in November! Haven't done that since, but it was so much fun.

Those summers on the houseboat were a blast. My brother and I always talked about doing that with our families when we were older. I'm not sure that will happen, but they were great memories. I love going to the lake, and really hope to share that experience with Lauren. Troy is a little less enthusiastic about the lake, but I think I don't mind it because I grew up summering there. Lauren had her first boat ride last summer, and I plan to take her again this summer to my parent's house at Bull Shoals Lake (on the Missouri/Arkansas border). She would fall asleep on the boat, and this year I hope I can actually ski again! I haven't gotten to ski since the summer I got married - not sure I'd even remember how, haha! Troy never tried to ski, but he'd tube with me - I like tubing even though it scares me! One year I about broke my back. My dad and I were tubing and this guy I was dating at the time (a real jerk, I might add) was driving the boat and took us over these waves he just created and it was not a smart thing. I'm pretty sure it's a miracle he didn't flip the boat over because he didn't slow down, and then it snapped my dad and I up in the air and I think my feet went over my head.

I had another accident on a jet ski - these lake stories keep coming now....we were jet skiing at this itty bitty lake in Terre Haute. I was on my favorite jet ski and came around a turn and decided to do a power slide. I hadn't been paying attention, and I did this power slide and hit a wave - it completely threw me off the jet ski and I hit the water so hard it knocked the wind out of me. I remember just lying there in the water, only able to half see because I lost a contact, and here comes my Uncle Kevin racing into the water like a madman. He was kind of protective of me when I was younger. He got to me and asked if I was okay and I just said I don't know, and he helped get me back to the shore. It was pretty crazy - they said I flipped in the air and they knew I was going to hit the wave but had no way of stopping me.

Fun times...I will forever cherish those memories. My parents have picture albums full of pictures of our adventures on the lake. I can't wait to share them with Lauren, and I will probably have my parents copy those pictures for me...

That's my randomness for today...back to work...