a boat for what ails you

My best friend and I went on a little canoe outing ths weekend, an evening adventure on still waters. I love boats, and it seems outrageous that I hadn't been canoeing in so long. (I learned to canoe many years ago at Challengers Day Camp. My number one favorite thing at camp was the horses. Number two was the canoe trips. And number three was making sassafras tea from actual baby sassafras tree roots.)

The water was so calm Sunday evening, and the air was light and cool. A group of friendly strangers gathered, trying on life jackets and standing around quietly, holding their heavy green plastic paddles like staffs, waiting to be told what to do.

When everyone was set, we started clambering into our chosen canoes, and although I thought that I knew exactly what I was doing, my body told me to chill out and pay attention... I pretty much only like to sit in the back, but this time I had to give up and let someone else steer. (There's something to ponder a bit more...) My kinked out neck was still complaining, and I wanted to be sure that we'd make it back to shore without too much trouble if my neck threw a giant tantrum in the middle of the lake. And I discovered that the other big benefit to sitting in front is the really great photos that can be captured!

Once we were gliding over the water, I felt right at home. The ripples on the surface of the lake, the sounds of bugs and frogs and birds, the changing colors and patterns in the darkening sky, the bats swooping silently overhead~ everything was just nice. A few times, I did think that a bat was going to have sonar failure and run into my paddle, but they can correct their angle of swoop with impressive speed and accuracy. It took everything in me to not start singing the Count's bat batty batty bat song from Sesame Street, but I decided that the rest of the boaters probably wouldn't have loved being subjected to it as much as I love singing it.

Here's something else that came up during this little excursion: I don't think of myself as a competitive person. But then, at random moments, I realize that I'm being completely competitive! I want to be the first boat under the bridge! The first ones to greet the gaggle of geese on the far bank! This has been happening more and more. I need to win the board game and to be the only person in town to have a business like mine, and blah blah honk. What's it all about, I wonder? Fodder for a future post, perhaps...

In any case, I think that there will be more water-top adventures in the near future. And I recommend it to really everyone! Ah, boats, such a good idea...