Stories from the Lake. Bringing the Legacy to Life.
Lakeside Dreams and Schemes
Posted: Jul 8, 2008
Ah..Lakeside. Just thinking about it gives me thrills. I keep a special photo frame on my desk at work that holds 30 photos and can easily flip to show a different one. Each photo depicts a cottage front at Lakeside -- I've snapped many over the years. Whenever I feel stressed or just want to feel a surge of excitement, I change the photos. It makes me happy just to look at them and think that perhaps, one day, when the time is right and the funds available, I might be able to afford one of my very own. Until then, I am blessed to be able to spend a week there each summer with my husband, three children, my in-laws (including triplet cousins) and grandma. In just a week, we will be there, signing up for art classes, riding to the pier on our bikes and taking a walk by the waterfront, picnicking in the park, enjoying "Tea by the Sea," and waving our cardboard fans as we take in a show in the Hoover Auditorium. I can almost hear the church bells that chime by the beach, taste the blueberry snowcones they sell by the pier, and feel the wind off the water as I write this. Lakeside strikes a chord deep inside me that is nearly impossible to put into words. From the very first time I went through the gates in 1993, I "felt" a sense of belonging at Lakeside. My husband and I were celebrating our first anniversary and on the tip of a coworker, took a room in a bed and breakfast for the weekend. It was hot (no air conditioning) but even that seemed to add to the atmosphere, harking back to earlier times. We played shuffleboard, ate meatloaf and mashed potatoes at Abigails, and sat on rocking chairs at the old hotel to watch the lake. Later, we would come with close friends, pushing strollers at night to calm our fussing infants and peeping inside quaint cottages that were lit up like fireflies at night. (At that time, cottages were selling for under $100,000, but we were still living in an apartment and couldn't imagine the jump in prices that we would see over the next 15 years. Now you can expect to pay close to $200,000 for a 2 bedroom cottage.) Eventually, more family joined us for our annual trip to Lakeside and fell in love with it, too. Over the years, we've experienced many changes -- new babies born, loved ones gone -- but one thing has not changed -- the timelessness of Lakeside. When I am physically there, I feel that time slows down and takes a step backward. When I am gazing at my photos at work, I know that Lakeside is tucked away inside my heart and there, it will forever be -- never changing, beloved.
Victoria Bartholomew
North Royalton, OH
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