Jumpers

 A visit to Montrose Beach is my Labor Day tradition, starting at the Montrose Dog Beach, then on to the Montrose People Beach, watch a little volleyball, hit the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area and the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary for a bit of shade, and ending the afternoon at the Breakwater rocks, which today had the population of a small city. Far more improv than the beach proper, free from the strictures of lifeguards yelling that you can't have floaties, watermelon-fashioned or otherwise, in the water. They disappear tomorrow anyway, as Chicago's beaches are, officially, closed after Labor Day.

The cautious gingerly climb down the ladders into the lake, while others, more adventurous, transform the usually metaphoric - and hostile - admonition, "Go jump in the lake," into something literal, bracing, and joyous.  The last day of summer felt like something you never wanted to end.

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