Lake Effect

I grew up with cedar lakes. To be honest with you, I have no idea why they are called "cedar lakes" but that's what I'm told they are called. They're dark and now that I look back at them, pretty darn gross.

We didn't have pools, unless you were a member of a fancy swim club. As kids, we'd drive up the road about two minutes and hop into a dark cold lake with hundreds of other kids. We'd lay and play in the sand, take swim tests to be able to swim out to the island platforms, and meet up with our school pals on a daily basis.

You'd often see canoes and kayaks riding by, and every summer late in August there would be a canoe carnival, where folks would snazz up canoes and parade them by on the water.

No one ever thought twice about the lakes. It's just what we did.

I recently visited these lakes again, and since becoming an adult and now a parent, I have to wonder how the hell my mom and the gaggles of other parents let their kids swim in what is basically dark murky dirty stinky water.

I imagine over the years it's gotten progressively worse, but the innocence of youth has definitely worn off. I can only think about how many kids go in there and pee (like I did). And I worry about what the hell is swimming around with us under the water.

The truth is that it hasn't changed my memories of those wonderful lakes. I recently learned that they finally had to drain a few of them due to pollution and other issues. On my visits home, I strain my neck to see the lakes where we used to watch the floats go by. And they're gone.

It's not so much about letting my kids swim in them, but to be able to take them to the water that I experienced almost every summer of my childhood is something I do wish for. A time when our minds were free of worry and the only thing we could think about was where we'd find the money for another water ice.

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The pool in our n

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