I know this doesn’t look like Lake Erie to you, but that’s what I see when I look at my grandchildren here at Clark Island in Maine.  And I feel the excitement in my bones when our family arrived at the little cottage colony in Vermilion, OH each year for two weeks!

I can feel the sand beneath my feet and an expanse of water stretching out to the horizon, which as far as I knew was the ocean.  I didn’t know about tides, or a salty taste, but I knew about making sand castles, jumping the waves, and looking for little critters.  I imagine my big brother telling me what we’re about to do:  jump on the raft and paddle out to the rock that we could stand on. He could swim, but I could not.  I remember it like it was yesterday, how I trusted him, and how I loved it when he stayed close to me like that.  Maybe I was 8.

What is it you remember from your childhood and what it means about your sense of self?  Come to Returning to Essence, a memoir / essay workshop with Teresa Piccari, June 11 & 12.

Go to Workshops on this site to sign up today!