Carousel

Every summer since before I can even remember, my family has spent one day at Midway Park. Midway Park is located on a shore of Chautauqua Lake, near Bemus, New York.  It is exactly what it sounds like it would be: a park made up entirely of midway rides that have been made stationary. Yes, the park is geared towards children ages of zero to seven, but we don’t let the fact that the youngest one of us is eighteen stop us from still going every year. It is a family tradition that age does not define. The reason that we go there every summer is because my grandfather grew up in that area when he was young. I guess my family had celebrated his birthday there before, so that is sort of where we ended up. We always have a big picnic lunch/ dinner with hot dogs and hamburgers (and veggie burgers for our vegetarian friends!) and a whole lot of side dishes and I remember when I was little, this was the only time I ever got to drink Sunny D. We play Frisbee, and Kan-Jam, and through a football around. My brother and cousins made our own tradition by, right when we got there saying we needed to go to the bathroom, but we really went to the arcade to scope out the prizes before we went there at the end of the day. There are so many things I remember from going there all these years, but I won’t bore you with any more details.

This is the carousel at Midway Park. Everyone in my family rides it together. And as each day to graduation creeps closer, I like to think back on memories that I have made. Not just the ones from my childhood, but from middle school and even those from high school. I like to keep who I used to be alive so that way I don’t forget who I am.