Monday, July 2, 2012

A 60th birthday

Saturday night my family got together to celebrate the 60th birthday of the boy who never lived to see  his 17th. My uncle Mark Lefere left our family at the tender age of 16 after losing his fight with leukemia. Mark would have been 60 years old on June 29th and we weren't going to let it go by uncelebrated.

To the boy with the fiery red hair and the matching fiery red spirit we went to a new restaurant called The Pointe on Clark Lake for you. We had the grandest of times. With wonderful food, friends, and champagne we toasted to the life that changed all of ours.

Our friend gave us a ride on his pontoon on the lake and then the real fun started. A couple cases of beer, a large, orange setting sun, and a perfect temperature made for some interesting times. The sights were ones that stick with you for a while. The mixing of colors in the late evening light were consistent with only the finest pieces of art. The bright sun shown a beam of reflection on the water that burned into my very soul.  I couldn't help but thinking, this is the stuff that life is made of. In those moments I make sure I keep myself exactly where I am and who I am with.

We enjoyed a panoramic fireworks show as residents of the lake shot large, impressive fireworks into the sky. I listened to stories of my aunts and uncles partying on this lake decades before. I laughed at the predicaments that they got into and the fun they must of had. In our happy-go-lucky state I felt like we all were the same age-young.