Splish Splash Summer

"Dad, what do you think the temperature of the water is?"

"They told me at the bait shop it was 44 degrees"

"Like 12 degrees above freezing?"

"Exactly. In fact, I bet you a dollar that you will chicken out and break your tradition."

"You are so wrong."

SPLASH...dollar paid.

Isabella has been the first of us to herald in our summer by jumping off of our dock each year on Memorial Day weekend. She started this tradition a decade ago. That year it was unseasonably warm.

The thing about a tradition is that it must carry on, come hell or high water. Today was hell weather wise. Overcast skies. Air temperatures that belonged here in late March and water so cold that the fish did not feel like feeding despite hours of teasing them with delicious bait.

But with the splash of my eldest daughter, summer has begun. Now, the weather has to catch up with our mood and our celebration.

This place, this feeling, the emotion realized being here...this is what I live for. As I watch my family on this beach, I realize that I am never more at peace and happier than when I am here.