Our first place prize goes to Beth Blake, 32, of Smithfield, Utah for her reflection on “The Healing Properties of Bumper Boats”. And second place went to Jessica Young, 16, of Barrie, Ontario. Her reflection on a summer spent with her grandfather was a touching submission.
Here are their essays for you to enjoy!
The Healing Properties of Bumper Boats
By Beth Blake
The heat is blistering, particularly when the air is punctuated by the burst of fire from the miniature golf Hawaiian statue, signifying that someone has made a perfect shot on the 18th hole. The air smells like sunscreen and snow cones. We all stand in line at the bumper boats; sisters, brothers, in-laws, and nephews, looking longingly at the pool of water and the brightly colored boats attached to the dock. We, my siblings and I, have always been children of the water. The sight and sound of it brings back memories of living in the pool during the summers of our childhood and seaside vacations no one wanted to come home from. Those children are gone now, replaced by adults who see far too little of each other. Thank heaven for family vacations.
The teenager in charge finally opens the barricade and we rush inside to find the perfect color boat and plan our attack. “Green button for go, red for shooting water; keep your hands inside the boat at all times”…and off we go. Almost instantly, my littlest sister focuses on me and I am assaulted by water and her infectious, delightful laughter. I squeal and take off after her, getting my green and red buttons mixed up and eventually ending up under the center waterfall. My nephew comes after me then, my chocolate-haired boy, who has been educating me this trip on GI Joes and Cobras. The water comes from everywhere, cooling me, soothing me. The laughter of people I love is all around me. I am in Heaven.
We line up to go again and again, our hair dripping, our mascara running. A peace settles over us, a soft comforting peace that ministers to the pain we’ve experienced in the past year. Each of us has endured heartache, separately as well as together, and our fun is somehow healing us, binding us closer together. Later on, we will retreat inside for Skee-Ball and air hockey, maybe a few rounds of laser tag. We will take our tickets to the counter and exchange them for tootsie rolls and plastic key chains, just like when we were little and all together. But now, Dad has decided to go on the bumper boats with us, and so we wait in line again, all of us communicating with our eyes that Dad is going to get it. Soon Dad’s laughter, my favorite sound in the world, is all I can hear.
A Summer of Change
By Jessica Young
My summer did not start off in its usual carefree way. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Once the pressure of school and exams had lifted, I was faced with a new challenge- the challenge of saying farewell to all of my friends, and leaving the town where I had lived comfortably for 10 years. It was a huge step outside of my comfort zone, moving from small town Georgetown to the busy city of Barrie.
Another big change came my way when my grandfather had a stroke and therefore could
not be left alone to care for himself. My family offered to take care of him, and he has since moved into our living room where he has been living comfortably for over a month. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about this new addition to our family, for I had only ever seen him once or twice a year. I dreaded the prospect of living with someone I felt to be a complete stranger to me. However, after getting to know him better, I have discovered that my grandfather is quite the character! He lived a truly fascinating life, and nothing gives me greater pleasure than sitting on our back porch with him and listening to his endless tales that can go on for hours. I had no idea that he had been so worldly- I can’t seem to picture him as anything else but the grandpa who feeds and names the squirrels in our backyard.
My fondest summer memory would be my sixteenth birthday, and my grandfather is largely to thank for that. None of my friends came to celebrate it with me; they thought it was too much of a hassle to go all the way to Barrie. My grandfather however, made sure that I enjoyed my “sweet sixteen.” He went on a frantic search for an old record that he had been telling me about for weeks, because he wanted me to listen to a song titled “Jezebel.” Jezebel had been a nickname given to me as a little girl; I had always resented it because I somehow got it into my head that the name meant something bad. He wanted me to hear the song so that I would better understand the meaning of that name. I informed him that even if he found the record, I didn’t have a record player to play it on, and of course didn’t he surprise me with one on my birthday. I was completely speechless at his generosity, and have listened to that one record repeatedly since. However, the greatest gift he gave me was his permission to write his life story. It’s my dream to become a writer, and for years I have struggled with finding an inspiration to write about, and now I have found exactly what I need when I wasn’t even looking!
I have learned a lot this summer, and I have discovered that change is good, even if we want to resist it. Seasons change and people change, the person you were yesterday may not be the person you are tomorrow, but the best we can do is keep moving forward and remember that “tomorrow is a new day, with no mistakes in it.” As summer comes to a close, and the leaves begin to change, I shall be starting a new season of my life- my new school. I hope to take everything I have learned this summer with me as I begin the new school year. I can only imagine what endless possibilities await me here.
