[stepfordfemme]

I was at work on Friday and something smelled like damp wood mixed with resin or plastic. Strangest smell but it instantly brought me back to a memory of my childhood.

At my Great Aunts cabin at the lake there was a change house,essentially a shed closer to the lake then the cabin. We kids had to change out of bathing suits into summer clothes in the shed so we wouldn't track sand and salt water all inside the cabin. There was an old refrigerator from the 50s, random tools and a work bench, life jackets and oars on the walls. The floor was a cracked piece of Lino and the door didn't lock so I was always in a hurry to change.

They had a paddle boat at the cabin that I used to long to take out. It was the kind you see on small ponds in parks. My dad would occasionally take me out with it, I remember the exact sound the paddles used to make and how the plastic felt. I remember the dock and how the weathered wood would feel under my feet when I looked down off the edge into the green water. I remember the big collie dog, gypsy, she was so beautiful just like lassie from tv. I remember the drive seeming so long when I was a kid, in reality it was about 40 minutes.

What I wouldn't give to have a few days by myself back on that beach. Laying on the rocks and smelling the lake. To have back the people I used to laugh with. To be barefoot and carefree again, avoiding the sand ant hills on the grass while I ran towards the water.