Memories by the Water

This year, while rewatching Frozen II for the 27th time, I found myself lingering on the phase, “Water holds memory.” The phrase ignited my own memories of summer—particularly at the pool, by the ocean, in a creek, or fishing at a lake. Water may not be capable of holding our memories, but our memories of summer seemingly hold a lot of water! It’s one of the best ways to beat the heat. Maybe it’s the rhythm of the waves or the smell of chlorine, but so many of our favorite summer stories begin on a boat, a dock, or the sand. Jumping in the deep end for the first time, drinking from the garden hose, or fishing with Grandpa---whatever your mind returns to this season, water seems to be the undercurrent of some of our happiest memories.

As we’ve listened to our clients share their summer memories, water always makes an entrance. But like most stories, it’s not just the setting that creates something memorable, it's the people by the water with us that leaves a mark.

“Dad would tow us and our cousins behind the boat on tubes, sometimes three at a time, for hours until we’d run out of gas. Dad would go get more gas and we were back at it in no time! I think it was like a personal challenge to get us thrown off those tubes and Mom couldn’t watch."

“We rented these simple cottages right on the water, some of which have since washed out into the sea! The girls had fun building sandcastles and swimming all day, though there were no lifeguards, so you had to watch the kids like hawks. We ate all the fresh fish we could get, and my husband ate anything, even if it wasn’t kosher."

“In the summer, I stayed with my grandparents. Mimi and Pop ate dinner in the middle of the day, so I’d have to come home from the beach to eat with them, then wash and dry the dishes before I could return to the beach--what drudgery! My cousin was there, too, and she and I went out on double dates, but we had to make sure we were home by 11. We ate ice cream in front of the TV every night and slept outside on the cold porch, but I was just happy to be there.”

“We loved to go to the beach. Every year, the extended family hosted is a huge get together with hundreds of people and everybody genuinely likes each other! We take over the beach and play cornhole and tell jokes. We are blessed because we are rich with family.”

“We rented a cottage on Crawling Stone Lake in Minocqua, Wisconsin, where my Dad upgraded an old rowboat with a motor to zip us around. Dad loved being out on the water. He’d get up early when it was freezing cold and take a morning dip before any of us woke up."

What are your summertime water memories? What does the water mean for you?