Elixir of Youth
Throughout the ages people have searched for some form
of magic formula to take them back in time to their youth. Ponce de Leon was said to have searched for the
Fountain of Youth. The Greek goddess
Hebe was said to have the power to restore youth in human and beast alike. Apparently her powers went both ways, so she
could also age someone beyond their years.
It was best to catch her on a good day I guess. And, I suspect the endless commercials nowadays
about hair restoring and coloring, eliminating wrinkles through creams and
injections are all ways we are still searching for a way back.
I have come to the point in life where I am quite
comfortable in the reality that there is no elixir of youth. But I believe that you can, and should,
revisit your youth from time to time.
There are warm memories and good lessons there for most of us that we
would do well to keep in mind and prevent them from drifting further backwards until
they are forever out of sight. All you
need is a moment of calm to reflect.
One of those memories for me, are summertime family picnics
up north at Green Lake. Back then, Green
Lake had a memory-friendly little beach and warm water once you got to
mid-June. Once or twice each summer we
would pack up the family car with a picnic lunch, an ice chest full of cold
drinks, and swimsuits and drive an hour or so north for a day of fun.
I suspect my parents didn’t want to deal with the
disappointment of their two youngest children in case something like rain
canceled our plans, so the first I knew that we were going to Green Lake was
when my older brothers would pull in the driveway, open the trunk and set the ice
chest down in the driveway. Then they spilled
a large block of ice out on the concrete and set to using an ice pick to break
it into several smaller pieces. Those ice
chinks went back in the ice chest and the drinks and the lunch went in as well.
We never seemed to get an early start, and it was a
little over an hour drive, so the first order of business was to get lunch
ready. The thing I was most excited
about was not the swimming anyway; it was the bottles of pop (maybe you say
soda, but in my family it was pop) in the ice chest. My mother never bought pop other than for
picnics, so it was a real treat. And
best of all, she always bought a variety eight pack. There was an entire bottle for each of us –
my dad had his own drinks that came in brown glass bottles.
Us kids always chose our flavor in order of age. I was nervous as I watched them all take
their turns. My eyes were fixed intently
on the one bottle of fruit punch. One by
one the various bottles and flavors disappeared. It was almost too much as I squirmed with
anticipation. Only one more to go. That was my brother Mike. His favorite flavor was grape and there was a
grape left. Amazing! I pounced on the bottle of fruit punch as if
it were about to run away. There was no
need to gulp it down, because after we finished eating lunch we had to wait for
an hour before we were allowed to go into the water so there was plenty of time
to sip it. To this day I have never
heard of anyone actually drowning because they didn’t wait one hour after
eating lunch to go swimming, but maybe that’s because everyone else’s mother
was as strict about that as mine was.
I thought for several years that it was unbelievable
luck that the fruit punch was always waiting for me even though as the youngest
I always picked last. When I was a young
adult though, my sisters and I were reminiscing about our Green Lake picnics
and they told me that no one else really cared for fruit punch. Oh well, it didn’t make that fruit punch
taste any worse.
I had the chance to take my own children on summer
picnics at Green Lake. But, about ten
years ago the Forest Service closed the little beach as part of its budget reduction. I have heard that the property owners around
the lake have formed a non-profit in the hopes of re-opening the picnic
area. I wish them well. Perhaps I will have another chance to go for
a swim and have a bottle of my elixir of youth.
Of course, I’ll need to wait and hour before I go in the water.
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
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