Summer Memories From Another Generation

This picture brings a rush of memories to my mind and heart. When I was a kid we stayed in cabins very similar to these. Into the White Mountains of New Hampshire, my friend John Foster (who took this picture) journeyed one day. We went to the place where my family (for three generations) went to "get away from it all" for a week. The cabins were gone.

Like these they belonged to age before Disney World was built and the strings of motel chains with easy access off the interstate dominated the landscape. I can remember that time very well. Now a family can stay an inn, get breakfast the next day and be on their way. We cooked our own breakfast in these cabins. We did the dishes too!

I remember the easiness of vacations then. With marshmallows on sticks over the coals which had cooked that evening's hamburgers we sat as the lightening bugs came out and talked. We laughed. Dad brought his ukulele and we sang old songs.

We hiked mountain trails in the day. We were on summer family vacation without a care in the world. For me it was, as I look back now, a foretaste of heaven.

When I look at the picture I remember that it was in a cabin like those that we had Dad all to ourselves. We played ball and horseshoes. He didn't have to get up early for work and we didn't have to get to bed early for school. Its a little of what I am trying to be to my grandkids today.

The cabins will be in my memory for the long haul. It was a simpler time. It was a golden age of family. I was privileged to grow up in it. If you did too, you know what I mean.