Have I told y’all about “The Lake” before?

Growing up I spent a lot of time at the lake house my grandparents owned.

The house is located on property at Lake Hewitt in Interlachen, Florida. According to my Daddy’s cousin Robbie, it was built in 1966, by my great-grandfather, Alton Knox. It was at this lake that I learned to swim and water-ski.

When my Grandpa was very ill in October 2019, many of us who loved him, spent some quality time together. Some time after his funeral we made plans to meet together at the Lake House to have a family reunion. On this past Tuesday, it had been one year since Grandpa left. Although we didn’t discuss this at the reunion, it was fitting that we gathered together at a place that he loved.

So today LB and I took a drive. I went, not only to represent my Daddy, but to see the people that I remembered were a part of my life when I was growing up. I’ll try to name everyone in attendance to document the event: my Daddy’s sister Debbie, Daddy’s cousins Robbie and Rosie, and my cousin Melissa. There were others who came along later after I was grown, Robbie’s son Robert and Robert’s wife and son, Robbie’s wife Sharon and her daughter, Rosie’s husband Eddie, their daughter Sasha and her friend Frank, Melissa’s daughter Brooke and Brooke’s boyfriend, and Melissa’s son Brandon’s girlfriend with their new baby. If I left anyone out, I’m sorry, I have a terrible memory, which is one of the reasons I blog.

I had been looking forward to visiting this beloved location and

it was a lovely day.

Both the house and the lake were smaller than I remembered.

There are inside doors that were not previously there and the house seems darker than it used to be. Debbie told us about a huge tree that had fallen on the front screened porch.

She had to have the tree removed and the roof replaced.

She also had a new dock built. There is still a lot of work to do, but it is too much for Debbie to manage alone. I’m not sure if she will try to keep it up or decide to sell.

We took a walk out onto the new dock. The water appears to be black.

When I was growing up, Mema would purchase a load of sand every year and have us shovel most of it into the water, to make it more inviting.

In the late 80’s it looked like this…

As I walked out to the end of the dock this weekend, I remember thinking, how did I swim in this? Today I would have a hard time wading in the shallow.

On the way home, we drove a little further south to get gas. I saw a sign that read “Orange Springs” and I recalled visiting that spring during many of our summer vacations. The water was SO cold. LB asked me what I was thinking. He asked just about the time that we were passing the Artesian well on 315C. People were always stopped there, by the side of the road, to collect water. I remember stopping there as well.

I remember the summer that I spent a week at the lake with Mema Reid and my sister. We stopped on the way and picked blueberries. During that week at the lake we would have Frosted Flakes topped with blueberries for breakfast. Other meals would involve Mema standing at the stove frying something. Whether it was pork chops and eggs for breakfast or fresh caught bream for dinner, she was always crafting something good in that little kitchen. As I sat at the same old dining table talking with Debbie and Rosie, I could still see her standing there working her magic, talking loudly and being larger than life.

But when I was a kid, most of the time was spent at the water.