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What was your favorite thing that you did this summer?

I confess I don’t have a favorite.  There are definite highlights, but narrowing an entire season into one particular moment proves impossible for me.

One of my favorite activities without a doubt was creating the sketch above.  Every time I look back at that drawing, a peace washes over me as the image transports me back to that moment, that brilliant morning on Lake Champlain, listening to birds sing as the children played along the rocky shore, laughing and splashing, fishing poles in hand, making memories that will last long after summer’s end.

Now, you must understand that I’ve never really done much sketching.  As a homeschool mom, my lessons sometimes require me to try my hand and comply with something basic.

So, no one was more amazed than me when I sat atop a small rock wall gazing down the shoreline and up the dock of a Vermont beach house my mother-in-law had rented for the week.  The view caught my eye and encapsulated the term “relaxation” perfectly, so perfectly in fact that I wanted to remember it forever.

I reached for my phone.  To my great dismay (but not surprise), my photo bank was full, leaving my camera without the ability to take pictures.  Bummer.

I studied the scene once more and felt the urge to capture it somehow, someway.  I didn’t want to walk up to the house to grab another camera for fear the moment would pass, so I picked up my journal and pen.

I turned to a blank page in the back and gave it a go.

I’m glad I did.  The dock stood empty, a rarity with the entire company afoot all week, and it was remarkable.  Roughly hewn with bits of wood, the long, lonely figure proved steady and strong, unmoved by the water’s coming and going.

I sketched the shoreline and dock, thankful for its presence and the serenity of it all.  I finished my drawing and slipped over to the steps, taking them one by one.  As if in a dream, I moved to end, staring at the water, loving the feeling of being surrounded by the rippling lake with only a rugged wooden arm beneath me.

I stared at the glorious Adirondack Mountains across the water and thanked God for my inoperable camera and my newfound love of sketching, for the beauty of His creation and everything in it, and for this precious, unforgettable moment.

On the dock.