I made Paella yesterday. I made it for my mother, seeing as how it was her day, and all. I’ve made Paella before, many times actually, and though each time it is different, it’s always the same. And it’s always good. But today isn’t about Paella, even if I am thinking ahead to a lunch time trip to my parents refrigerator to see if there might be a small plastic container holding the last few bites of Paella labeled “David- Don’t Eat!” No, today is about Sunday. It’s Monday, but in my line up of the most important days, Sunday is second only to Saturday. Friday is third. Don’t even ask where Tuesday is.
Sunday is a day that feels very different than any other. If any day was made for a big barbecue lunch lakeside, it was Sunday. Some would argue that day is Saturday, but I would like to unilaterally suggest that they are wrong. Sunday is a day meant for relaxation, and when the order to relax comes from above, who are we to object? Sundays at the lake are special to me, and I must admit that I enjoy them more and more as I age. I love the way they feel, and I do love large lunches more than most. I also love lakeside lounging, afternoon swims, morning boat rides, and 1:20 games on WGN (not lately I don’t). Sure families gather on Saturdays, but Sunday afternoon gatherings are the best. They’re particularly enjoyable when those gatherings take place lakeside. With another Lake Geneva summer arriving in a little more than two weeks, I for one, am more than ready for Sunday.
Sundays have another magical, unspoken, unrecognized quality. They tend to be good weather days. Well, not so much weather “days”, as weather “lake afternoons and evenings”. Have you ever noticed that? The phenomenon is the bane of Lake Geneva weekenders everywhere, as fine late Sunday weather is common throughout the entire summer. Sunday might start off shaky. A little cloudy, perhaps windy. In the early afternoon, the lake swells with boat traffic, and a sprinkle or two may develop. And then, when the boats are moored and the Illinois plates head South, the weather breaks. The sun, perhaps veiled by clouds during the day, makes an appearance. The wind, rustling during the day, grows still. The water, once made choppy by boat traffic, lies calm. The noise of the weekend dies down, and those of us who are blessed enough to remain find ourselves in the middle of yet another Sunday evening at the lake. Such was the case yesterday, and the weekend before, and, I imagine, will be the case many weeks, and months to follow.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon that is a Lake Geneva Sunday lake afternoon and evening is usually missed by hundreds or thousands of people who vacation here. Typical lake traffic will plateau at around 2 pm on Sunday afternoon, and by 5 pm, most of the traffic is gone. Many people who own vacation homes here will stay until 7 or 8 pm on Sundays, but many more will leave around 3 pm. Some even earlier. This early departure, unless necessitated by scheduled events that cannot be missed, is the greatest mistake vacationing Illinoisans can make. Check that, aside from making a Michstake and buying due East of Chicago, this is the biggest mistake. If our lifetimes our short, our summers even shorter, then our weekends are even more important that we can imagine. In my life, I’d place the most value on maximizing time spent at the lake, and in doing so, Sunday afternoons and evenings would be on my can’t miss list. Sunday evenings provide vacation home owners the chance to see what Lake Geneva is like during the week. Sunday evenings provide a view at how calm and still and peaceful Lake Geneva really is.
So what to do about Sunday nights? First, make a point to stop missing them. It’s a decision to miss them, so make a decision not to. Then, figure out if you can follow in the footsteps of some of my smartest clients and buck the traditional Sunday afternoon departure time- stay over Sunday night. Radical, I know. But the reality is simple, and the implementation even easier. If you want to figure out how to gain additional days of vacation each year, just stay at your summer home on Sunday night and if you must, drive straight to work on Monday morning. This maneuver is more common than you might think, and it’s a great way to maximize time spent at the lake without getting fired for doing so. Not only that, but you’ll avoid potential slow traffic leaving Lake Geneva on Sunday afternoons, and fly right to work on Monday mornings.
For some, this may not be possible. For others, it’s easy to accomplish. For families that might have only one bread winner, the best possible scenario is to have that bread winner drive to work on Monday morning and leave the remaining family at the lake all week, only to rejoin them on Thursday or Friday afternoon. This was done en masse fifty years ago, and it is still done to some degree today. If you can figure out how to spend Sunday nights at the lake, you’ll be one step closer to enjoying the next best day to be at the Lake- Monday. Which is, of course, followed very closely by Tuesday.