The Good Ol' Summertime

What my 1960's swimsuit was like

Lake Whatcom today, minus the docks, etc.

From the time I was born, my 14-year-older sister Linda got stuck (she kindly says it was a 'joy') babysitting me. A lot. She was beautiful and popular and I adored her. When Linda became a cheerleader, she dressed me up in a little 'cheer' outfit and I got to go games with her. On Saturdays we often rode the bus downtown and shopped with her girlfriends. I even went on her dates to the drive-in movies with Allen, her boyfriend. Talk about a built in chaperone! Nearly all of my best childhood memories include Linda. One of my favorite summertime memories is when Linda dressed me up in my cute little pink gingham swimsuit with ruffles around the bottom, and took me to Lake Whatcom. It was about 1960. Back in those days, Lake Whatcom was the place to be! There were several docks you could swim out to with diving boards on each one. There was even a high dive! Each dock had a beautiful, well-tanned lifeguard with sunscreen slathered across their nose and whistles about their neck. They were constantly chiding naughty little boys for jumping off the dock on top of their sisters. And the concession stand, well it was the best! You could buy a greasy hamburger and an ice cold Coca-Cola for under a dollar! The concession stand had loudspeakers, so when they weren't paging you to come and get your order; they played music like Elvis and the Everly Brothers and Chubby Checkers. If you tired of swimming and sunbathing, there were swingsets and a gigantic slide, and a merry go round that you pushed. If your sister or her friends were kind enough to push that merry go round, you could really get dizzy on it! But what I loved the most was just to roll out my brightly colored beach towel on the grass and to lie there next to my sister. She was the prettiest girl at the beach and she was my Sissie! Her swimsuit was pink like mine, so I imagined that we looked just alike.

Well, it's not 1960 anymore and sadly, Lake Whatcom isn't the same anymore. They've removed the docks and the high-dive so no one will slip and fall. The slide and the merry go round were deemed a hazard. The concession stand is still there, but has been turned into a meeting room for special groups. There is no music or lifeguards; instead signs warn you to swim at your own risk. Only a few families now gather on this once crowded beach. The city, unfortunately, in an effort to keep us all safe from slipping on docks, falling off of slides, and swimming out to far and perhaps drowning- has taken all of the fun out of Lake Whatcom! Even Elvis is gone. But one thing remains constant for me; my dear sister. We don't sunbathe anymore (thankfully!); but we do knit and go antiquing, and enjoy lunches together. And she's still the prettiest girl around!

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