Memoir-Matthew Medina

The speaker recalls their experiences at a friend's lake house, where they engaged in outdoor activities like fishing, camping, and riding jet skis. Initially unsure about these activities due to inconveniences like lack of service and bathrooms, the speaker eventually developed an appreciation for nature and found it to be an escape from everyday stresses. Despite challenges like bugs and dirt, the speaker cherished the memories made with friends and enjoyed the value of interacting with each other without the distraction of technology. They also discovered the calm and peacefulness of nature during an early morning fishing trip. The speaker emphasizes that outdoor activities are not just about achieving goals, but about appreciating and immersing oneself in nature. They describe their return to the house, dealing with the heat, making sandwiches, playing games, and fishing from the shore. When the power went out, the group adapted and assigned roles to create a fire and gather suppli The lake house. I haven't always been exposed to the outdoors as far as going to the mountains with friends, fishing, camping, hiking, etc. But when I was around 10 years old, I made a friend on the baseball team who had a lake house and grew up doing outdoor activities, so it was easy for him to bring me along. Him and his family would take me and a few other of our teammates to the lake house and we'd ride jet skis, fish, and genuinely just have a good time. At first I thought it was fun, but I didn't know if I would be willing to do it often, due to inconveniences such as not having service or at times a bathroom. Eventually, I was the one asking my friends if they wanted to go fishing or camping, and it was because I grew an appreciation for nature. It became my escape. Doing stuff like that isn't bad at all, but for me, going fishing, camping, hiking, sledding, skiing, or just being outdoors is fun, and it allows me time to get away from all the stresses of everyday life I used to present. Going to the lake house with all my friends when I was younger truly gave me some of the best memories and exposed an appreciation for nature I didn't know I had. In the beginning, it was really rough because when I got out there, I was hit with a sudden shock when I realized that I had no service, and then as time went on, things such as bugs, dirt, and goat eggs really started to become irritating. Inconveniences such as these were a small price to pay, and honestly something I was able to just get used to as time went on. It was all worth it because it was fun to be away with my friends and laugh and tell jokes. The fact that we didn't have service added so much value that we didn't even realize because it forced us to interact with one another, which led to the memories I appreciate so much now. My third day out at the lake house, we all woke up super early and headed to the dock to load the boat into the water. It was a pretty small bass boat, but we all fit inside, and it was able to do the job, so nobody had any complaints. We got the boat on the water and got our fishing rods set up before the sun rose, and then we were all just sitting there with nobody around. The water lay glass, a small chill, and the view of the sun slowly creeping up. It was then that I realized how calm and peaceful nature truly was. My friends were messing around and talking about whatever, but I couldn't hear a thing. It was silent in my head, and I was mesmerized by the beauty around me. I learned that for me as well as for most people, it's not about how many fish you catch, how big the fish is, or any other goal that an outdoor activity may have. It's about being outdoors, away from the city, appreciating and submerging yourself in all the blessings around you. Fulfilling this experience gave me what never truly went away, because every time I go to do something like that, the feelings come right back. Later, after we had been fishing for a while and had enough of the sun beating down on us, we went back to the house and beached the boat. It was tricky because we had to make sure not to get sand in the motor, but we got it done. We were all starving, so we ran up to the house, but we had to make sure that we kicked our shoes off before going in because of all the go-heads. It was always hot in the house because there wasn't any air conditioning, but there was plenty of fans around the house. There were so many fans going, it sounded like a jet was landing outside, but it was better than sitting in the heat. Once we got settled, we all headed for the fridge to make sandwiches, and then it was time to eat. We sat and relaxed for a little after we ate because it was still too hot to go outside. Eventually, we got bored and found a miniature bowling game in the closet and began to play that. It was just a still ball and a couple of pins, but for some reason we were able to have so much fun with it. After a while, all of the adults left to go hang out with their friends on the other side of the island, but we had no issue with being unsupervised. We went back outside, but instead of taking the boat out, we decided to just fish from the shore and listen to some music. It was relaxing and fun, but right when it started to get dark out, our entire half of the lake lost power. We already had no phones, but now we had no electricity, and with no electricity, you have no lights. So we were stuck outside because nobody wanted to go hang out in the dark house. Nobody was really worried, though. We took a break from fishing and began to assign roles as if we were stranded on a deserted island. We had two people digging a hole for the fire and two looking for wood. We gathered all our supplies needed for the fire and litters. It was pretty difficult to find everything and navigate our way in the dark, but we found some old headlamps in the shed that worked pretty well. It was really cool to me because even without adults or electricity, we were able to take care of ourselves and have a lot of fun while doing this. All the adults got back shortly after. We had gotten everything set up, and they brought us more chocolate for s'mores. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.