Fourth of July at Pine Lake (example memory)

We drove up Friday with two tents, one cooler that leaked, and the certainty that we could get a fire going in under five minutes. It took forty. By the time it caught, the kids had collected every stick within a hundred yards and Taylor had eaten the first three marshmallows out of the bag.

Saturday was canoes, cold water, and Leo declaring himself the captain. At night we sat on the dock in blankets while the fireworks from the town across the lake went up — doubled, once in the sky and once on the water — and for a full minute nobody said a word. Mia fell asleep on Sam’s shoulder before the finale, and we didn’t move her.

Sunday morning the fire pit still had warm coals, the lake was flat as glass, and everyone agreed we should have stayed one more night.