For as long as I can remember, we have always gone up Aunt Shirley's cabin every summer. I can remember when I was just a little girl and Aunt Shirley invited my sister Jill & I and a bunch of our cousins up to her cabin to help her 'build' it. We all piled into the back of her rusty old pick-up for the three-hour trip up to Bear Lake. I must have only been about 6 or 7 and not a care was not a care was given to the fact that there were a dozen kids sitting in the back of a pick-up and driving such a long way. She threw a bunch of blankets in the back for us to cover up with, and we headed out.
When we got to the cabin there were no walls. They were just working on the framing. Aunt Shirley made us a make-shift bathroom out of a portable potty and some blanket walls. We spent all day on the beach until we were burnt to a crisp, and then spent the rest of the trip blistered and sore but blissfully happy. We were introduced to the joys of skipping rocks. building sandcastles, & eating Bear Lake raspberry shakes on the beach. At night we all camped out on the deck, and had the time of our lives.
This marked the beginning of a wonderful family tradition. Every year we have gone back up to the cabin. Each year more and more niceties were added and things got just a little more comfortable. The walls went up, the scaffolding came down, and Aunt Shirley's cabin was finally complete.
Our whole extended family still goes up every 24th of July. There are too many people to fit in the cabin so the lot gets filled with campers and tents. At night Unk lights a fire and we all squeeze around it on the old yellow restaurant benches that Aunt Shirley got for just this occasion.
In recent years, a weekend in August has been reserved for just our little Gaster family to come up. Grandpa Gaster flies in from Maryland and we all go up there and spend the weekend. It's fun watching that same look of amazement appear on the faces of my children as they are now experiencing the wonder and magic of Aunt Shirley's cabin. They now look forward to our annual trip. Their eyes light up as we come out of the canyon and they get their first glimpse of the lake. The second we pull up to the cabin, the girls are ready to throw on their swimsuits and head down to the beach.
I hope to spend many more summer weekends up at Aunt Shirley's cabin. I look forward to the day when my girls tell my grandchildren about all of the joys they can remember from their childhood summer trips to Bear Lake.
Thanks Aunt Shirley.
We really missed all of you who couldn't come this year.
4 comments:
You are so much better than me at capturing the sentimental side of things. That was a really sweet post and so true. We are so lucky and blessed to have Aunt Shirley in our lives.
That's a "cabin"?? I'm so glad your girls had fun, just like you did when you were young. I'm always envious of you being able to do so many great things with extended family. I have to fork over serious cash to fly to see family (can you tell I'm slightly bitter about the plane tickets I just bought for Christmas??).
That's so fun! Bear Lake is the place to be! My parents just bought a cabin there a few years ago and we're enjoying all our fun times up there! =)
I love all the memories of how Aunt Shirley's cabin was built, from the camping on the deck and hearing the boyscout's bugel in the morning, to the burning to a crisp and staying in the water until I was made to come out. Good times...
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