Summer of '69

Summer of '69 (Prologue)

My Grandpa’s beach house stood out proudly, the surrounding sand dunes making it look like something out of a fairy tale. Most of my summer days had been spent here, but I hadn’t been back in two years. Finally I was returning to the place that I felt was my home. Grandpa was too ill to come with us, but he had insisted Lucas and I enjoyed this summer.

I wasn’t sure why he wanted us to enjoy this summer in particular. My senior year was about to start, but he insisted this wasn’t the reason. He was adamant he wanted us to use the beach house, as he didn’t want it going to waste for another summer. Luke had offered to drive him too but my Grandpa kept saying that he would just put a downer on our time there.

I have millions of things to thank my Grandpa for. He raised me from when I was a baby until a young adult; there was always food on the table and clothes on my back. But the thing I was most grateful to him for, was the wonderful summer he allowed me to have in 2009.

It was almost as if he knew… As if he could tell there wasn’t a lot of time left.

It didn’t take long for us to find out why this summer had been important. He had sent us here to have the best summer of our lives, forty years after he’d had the best summer of his.

In some ways it was obvious. All he ever spoke about was the summer of ’69. He had accomplished so much in his life, but had always told us that in 1969 he had become a man.

Luke and I had grown up listening to his stories. They were greatly over exaggerated tales, of an ugly servant falling in love with the beautiful maiden. As kids, we thought they were fairy tales, but as we grew older we saw that the faraway look in his eye was him remembering. All of the stories were his, and they meant so much to him. They soon started to mean a lot to me too, and – although he’d never admit it, even now – they meant the world to Luke too.

After all he’d done he still wasn’t finished in giving. His one final gift was more important than anyone could have expected. Just as it had helped him grow up in 1969, forty years later it had the same effect on me.