Those were the Days...

Sand Island

When I was young, Sand Island was a place our family loved to go,

On Watts Bar Lake in Tennessee, by houseboat we went, with a ski boat in tow,

It took us a full day and a half to get there by water from Ft. Loudon Lake,

We would go through the locks at the dam, an adventurous trek to make,

It was summertime, usually July, when we spent our vacation there,

It was hot and all day long our bathing suits we would wear,

Sand Island was a small island several miles from a distant shore,

We pitched a tent on the sandy beach, but wait, there’s so much more,

We beached the houseboat and secured the front of it to a tree,

Dropped an anchor off the back just for more stability,

Our family always went together with the Murphys, our good friends,

Sometimes we’d stay for 2 whole weeks, always sad when it would end,

Other people did the same, so the island was not totally ours,

But it was “our island” to us, and every night we’d have blazing campfires,

I always stayed in the tent with the Murphys, while my family bedded down in the boat,

We each had a cot and for a mattress we’d use our blow-up float,

I could take off on my own and safely explore the entire island,

I would start at our campsite and walk the whole thing single-handed,

We would gather driftwood during the day for our nightly fireside time,

And with a flashlight, look for frogs… we created our own paradigm,

The frogs were tiny and called peepers, no bigger than a penny,

And they were fun to catch and release, there were so very many,

While at Sand Island, all of us youngsters learned to water ski,

We’d each take turns getting chances to try, before riding a board on our knees,

The sun was scorching, we’d get a good tan, sometimes a good burn,

But with so much fun in the sun, it was a hard lesson to learn,

I fondly think of Sand Island now, and would like to return sometime,

I’d like to take my grandchildren, pitch a tent and make our own paradigm.

Tammy Harvey   written: 1/31/2018