One of our rituals is Elaine’s birthday, which we celebrate during our second week at the lake, the centerpiece being a large vanilla birthday cake. Right around sunset, we gather on the deck overlooking the lake, and serve up the cake, some soft ice cream from Donnelly’s, chips and dip, and maybe a bottle of wine. If we’re lucky, we get a photograph of the three girls.
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(Continuing the draft of the story ’65 Jumps,’ started back on 12/28/08, intended to be read sequentially.)

From 1998, when Nate and Anna were 7 and 5 years old, we have been returning to our summer family on Lower Saranac Lake. The growth of this special extended family just happened, and while I know that the Paces and the McManuses are among our oldest friends at the lake, and that the Windels and Karps were definitely on the scene by 2002, the evolution of what we sometimes call “The Manhunt Clan” just seemed to happen.
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