Monday Memory: Lake Santee

April 2, 2007

For the first 16 months of Jesse's life, we lived in Oxford, Ohio (20 minutes north of Cincinnati) while Randy finished his master's degree at Miami University. This put us 45 minutes from Randy's parents in Greensburg, Indiana. They have a house on Lake Santee, which is largely a motorboat and pontoon boat lake. Living near Randy's parents was awesome with that first grandchild. We often went over on Sundays, as on this Easter day when Jesse had just celebrated his first birthday. Randy's dad died 8 years ago,but his mom, now remarried, has continued to live there on the lake. The kids love to visit Grandma there. There is something about a body of water that mesmerizes--calms--my children. Give them a creek, a river, a lake, and they are perfectly happy.

But for some time now, Randy's mom has been ready to move South. She wants to be nearer to us and Randy's brother in Charlotte. She called tonight to say that they are passing through this week to look at new places to live. Greeneville (is it NC or SC?) is their top choice right now, as it's close to both Knoxville and Charlotte. They plan to put their house on the market as soon as they get back next week. You'd think the kids would be thrilled that Grandma will be a couple of hours closer, but they are focused on only one thing: missing Lake Santee. I am suddenly sad for them. There is an ache that comes with missing a favorite childhood place. I still miss the house I lived in as a child; it's the one that still comes to me in dreams. And I still miss my oldest brother's orchard, where I spent so many weekends of my childhood. There are places we can never return to that hold bits of who we are. In ten years our kids will look at photos of Grandma's house and say, "I remember that deck!" and "Remember that awesome basement?" I'm hoping we have a chance to make a trip to Lake Santee before the property sells...