The Threshold

The lake was the beginning of my parents. Their decision to have me was reflected in the moment of their meeting. All it took for my parents was my mother's baptism in Lake Charlotte.

My Grandmother, Ingrid, moved our house all the way from Minneapolis to the bayside location of Lake Charlotte. She wouldn't live there long, because my father, once he found my mother, bought it from her.

The house was built on a foundation that is one brick short from a full basement. That might mean something, though I have never figured out what that might be.

On the day in question, my mother was helping paint Grandma Ingrid's house with her best friend Lilly and my Grandma Dolly. Their hair was unnaturally blonde like the rays of the sun got caught in the net of their hair. My Dad came over to see his mother and he found Dena.

Maybe it was love at first site, but the arrow to my dad's heart was my mom's smart mouth. She said some comment to him and he threw her into the lake. She was baptised into her new life from that moment. He turned around to his friend and said "I'm going to marry that girl."

Eventually my dad bought the place from my grandmother, and since he already, in his way, threw my mom over the threshold, or shoreline if you will it would be the place I would know my whole childhood.