When I wrote the post a few weeks ago about our cottage I was completely caught off guard by so many private messages from readers sharing about your family cottages, cabins, etc., and your fond memories of your places. Lately, I’ve received private messages asking when I was going to continue the story. Thank you for sticking with me on this trip down memory lane. Here we go – Part Two!
This Cottage Life
In my last cottage post, you can read it here, I shared the history behind why we call our home “The Cottage,” and also why my social media accounts are named “This Cottage Life.” For me, it is less about a “cottage trend,” and more about a loved cottage, and memories. Our family cottage was more than a destination, it was a get-away – somewhere other than home – a place for fun, exploring, family, friends, play, good meals, swimming, and even rest.
One summer several years ago, while vacationing on Lake Michigan, our family took a short drive to see our old cottage. We hoped to meet the owners and walk around outside. Unfortunately, the owners weren’t around. I noticed a name on the mailbox and wrote it down wondering if I would ever have the courage to contact the family.
Eventually, I did muster up some courage. Using the name on the mailbox, I found Angelo on Facebook. I was pretty sure he was a member of the current owners. When I reached out to Angelo in a FB message I included my email, letting him know I would love to share photos from when the cottage was being built. A couple of years passed and I forgot about the message, until one day I received a very kind email from Angelo. Fighting back tears I read his kind words and his childhood memories at the cottage. Angelo was a young boy when his parents purchased the cottage from my dad, but he has plenty of memories from those early years. Here’s the note I received …
Angelo and I emailed back and forth a few times and were able to arrange a date for all of us to meet at the cottage while we were vacationing nearby in Michigan.
A Cottage Visit
In July 2017 we were welcomed to our former cottage by a kind and loving family. The graciousness and hospitality of Angelo and his family, and his mom, Elaine went beyond what I could have hoped or imagined. Walking through the cottage I was surprised by how much was still the same – little things that added up and brought back memories. The flooring and paneling throughout, the original sconces on the living room, and sunroom walls. Striped fabric shades in the sunroom — looked original – made in the same fabric as I had remembered. The iron stair rail we peeked through as children as we said goodnight. On the walls in the stairway, I was surprised to see pictures on the walls from when we owned the cottage! Even more surreal was seeing my grandparent’s original bed, in the same place, in the room, with the same picture of Jesus over the bed! It seemed I had stepped back in time and the memories rushed through my mind like a film in fast speed.
Cottage Memories
While walking around the property with our cottage kindred spirits I remembered my grandpa whistling through his teeth (as he always did) while he putzed around the place, and I could almost hear the old pump chugging away – that he invented to pump water from the lake to water the lawn. Everywhere I looked memories popped up!
The shoreline was a bit different – lined with weeds and lily pads now, which really didn’t surprise me. Grandpa raked that shoreline every day to keep the weeds out so us kids would have a nice swimming area. He had a rake with a very long handle which he kept hanging in a willow near the shore to rake the weeds, let them dry on the shore … then haul them to the back burn pile.
Turns out, my grandpa’s weed raking process continued to the next owner…
“It [the lake] has been known as “Lake of the Weeds” since my parents bought the house, and there was evidence (a rake with a very long handle hung in a tree by the shore) that your grandfather worked very hard to keep the area near the pier clear of weeds. My dad would spend hours out there raking them in too, letting them dry near the shore, and then he’d put them in the trailer and bring them across the road to burn them.” —- A.
The visit was incredible. We enjoyed ice tea and lemonade with home-baked sweets on the front patio overlooking the lake and sharing stories. We were also treated to a pontoon ride around the same lake my sisters and I learned to waterski, ice fished on with grandpa, and took endless rowboat and motorboat rides on.
It was delightful to read the following words this past summer from Angelo:
“It’s great that there are so many wonderful memories of the place for both of our families, and in a way we have “shared” memories since the cottage, as you mention, still has a lot of things your grandparents’ belongings (or close duplicates as with the window shades). I remember in the months and years right after my parents bought the house how we were always finding new things your grandfather had built by hand or even invented (like that old pump on wheels!) sitting around and we just marveled at his ingenuity and skill.”
“It is REALLY hard to believe that in just a few years it will be fifty years since they bought the cottage from your dad. You and your family are always welcome to stop by the cottage for a visit anytime, even if we’re not there. Just let us know, and of course, we’d love to have another “reunion” of our families as well!“
“Your grandfather was legendary among the neighbors up there when we first started going. He was known to be able to fix just about anything. Then there were the things he made from what looked like a bunch of junk thrown together but which worked like a charm–such as a pump which drew water from the lake so it could be used to water the lawn or trees.”
Thanks for indulging me on this trip down memory lane. As someone who likes change, and changes things often – I have been pleasantly surprised by how all the “same” of the cottage felt. The more I thought about it I realized this family had preserved the memories of my family! Truthfully, they probably preserved them better than I would have. I imagine that if our family still owned the cottage I would have been changing all sorts of things! We all have our own way of living in our cottages, whether they are split-levels, mansions, ramblers, or the old farmhouse. Some of us seek change and some hold on to the comfort of keeping things just as they are. They both have their place don’t they?
One last story. As we were about to leave I found myself staring at the little shed (as we called the small metal structure) where my grandfather kept his fishing gear and had a little workshop, including welding equipment. The same Rose of Sharon bush at its side. If we couldn’t find grandpa — he was usually in the shed putzing around with some new invention or repairing something. Angelo asked me if I’d like to see inside the shed, sharing that they never really opened it and didn’t use it. I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.
There. Right before my eyes was a museum of sorts. Grandpa’s fishing gear, nets, etc., workbench, some tools … everything seemed to be where he had left it on his last trip to the shed. As the tears rolled down my cheeks, at that moment I was thankful that everyone doesn’t change things up as much as I do.
I’m hoping to make another visit to the cottage. I’d like to take my mom, sisters, and my cousin (who is 10 years my senior and spent a lot of time at the cottage as well) to visit in 2021. Hopefully, the coronavirus will be controlled and this will be possible. One thing I am certain of — when we go there will be more stories told and remembered.
