The summer scene from our dock is plentiful this noon, watching friends and family celebrate the fourth of July . Neighbors around the four mile lake frock in bright sun and carefree water. Rays of sunshine twinkle up and down the waves as they roll towards shore, bringing with them a distinctly nostalgic smell.
Motor oil of distant skiboats tint the coconut sunscreen air floating in the breeze under my nose. I'm happy to be alive.
Everything on my plate looks festive and smells so good. Mom and Dad sure know how to throw a party. Aunt Edna joins us taking the last spot at our table on the dock. The teenager's table. We don't mind though. She is hilarious and always says something memorable and many times useful. Lucy told me a long time ago "Ivey Mae we love all of our relatives. Certain ones you don't use as role models and other ones deserve special attention to what they say."
While diving into our grilled feast with all the trimmings, Dad drives the boat past us dropping off the last skier of the morning. Mary, the new fiancee of my second cousin emerges from the lake and walks across our view to grab her towel. Covering a good portion of this young woman's lower back is a brightly colored tattoo. We all see it. Auntie glances up then back at her food while my sisters wink and we wait.
After Mary walks up the hill and disappears into the back of the huge pink house, did anyone speak. It is Auntie.
"Well kids I figured out exactly what it is about tattoos that I don't like. Why in the world would I pay money to have ink permanently embedded in my skin with a needle when the end result looks like something I ought to wash off with hot soap and water."
