Sunset on the Lake

After the circus afternoon I had planned to drop off Robert and Keenan about 6:00pm and then head home - until they invited me to dinner at their vacation cottage on a lake. Who could say no to that offer? While the charcoal heated up for dinner Robert and I took his homebuilt kayaks out on the lake. My lifetime kayaking experience is about a half-hour in a school pool practicing to right the kayak (and myself) after turning upside down in the water. I think I may have actually made it upright once or twice. Mostly I learned about how long I could hold my breath and how to exit a kayak while inverted (I got *very good* at that!) Hopefully this evening I wouldn't have to rely on that skill set (or, well, lack thereof).

For the first five minutes I would repeatedly experience an unnerving sense of instability. While paddling along I would suddenly feel as if the kayak and I were about to roll left, or roll right. After a while I started to sense that I might be causing the problem by flinching. The more I focused on relaxing the less often I experienced the instability. I asked Robert "would the kayak float if I tipped over?" He said "yes", and he knew how to do a "kayak retrieve" to get it back to shore. Get *it* back to shore? What about me?

This summer I’d been looking for someone to introduce me to kayaking. Two weeks ago I'd met someone with kayaking experience and I'd asked if they would take me out sometime. After about ten minutes on the lake I noted to Robert that by the time I get to go with my friend I wouldn't look like a novice anymore. Almost in perfect synchronization with finishing that statement I flinched and felt like I was going overboard. Hmm...how many of the issues in our lives are self-induced?

The feeling of instability did continue to diminish over time. After a while I started experimenting with the paddle to see what positions might be more comfortable. I had noticed that I was getting my pants pretty wet simply from water dripping off the paddle - it would be nice if I could learn to stay dry. By the time we'd returned to the beach the bottom half of my shorts were soaked and there was a small puddle in the bottom of the kayak. Robert, who had paddled in the "kiddy size" kayak, was completely dry.

We enjoyed a wonderful family dinner on the cottage deck overlooking the lake. Cheese and crackers, chicken, salad and pasta - all while watching clouds turned pink by the setting sun. I couldn't have been more satisfied at the end of the day as I boarded the airplane, headed for home in my still slightly soggy shorts.