Faith in yourself

Ten years ago Robin and I went on a camping trip in which we stayed in a lean-to on a lake. The lean-to was pretty far up from the shoreline - far enough so that scrub brush and trees obscured the view of the water. In the afternoon we walked down a well-worn path to where a large rock protruded into the lake. It provided an area in which to sun and also a platform from which one could jump into the lake.

I swam around the edge of the rock with goggles to look for any submerged dangers (e.g. tree braches, stumps). Everything looked safe so I started jumping off the rock into the water. For some reason Robin just couldn't get herself to make the jump. Some sense of uncertainty kept her from taking the leap. No big deal, I provided reassurances and suggested she use the goggles too, but she didn't need external input into her quandary.

That evening we finished dinner and were cleaning up. It was close to sunset and the temperature had dropped so we were wearing jackets and pants. As I put away the cooking stove Robin went to rinse off some utensils in the lake. A few minutes later I heard a loud splash. It flashed through my head that Robin had lost her balance and had fallen into the water. I dropped everything and hurried down the path. As I emerged on the rock I found Robin smiling and swimming in the water. Something had possessed her to finally make the leap! The next day we got a picture of her jumping.

A couple of weeks ago as I was house cleaning I came across a photo from that day. I flipped it over and found a note from her written on the back. Seeing the picture and the note I couldn't help but smile and laugh.