Floating Down the River

The subtitle for this post should be Speed Limit 2 because when an 8 mile canoe trip takes about 4 hours it means that one is barely moving. Of course, there was a stop for lunch along the way, but devouring the small amounts of edibles packed in waterproof containers doesn't take long. Plus there is the fact that there are no rest rooms so it might not be such a good idea to consume large quantities of food and drink.

The youth group and several youth wannabees go canoeing each summer. Pastor Dad and I have never gone before but we thought it might be fun. After all, we made our leg muscles angry a couple of weeks ago (read about it here at Speed Limit 20) and decided our arm muscles deserved equal treatment. Fair is fair.

When one is spending 4 hours in a canoe, one doesn't have a whole lot of options so I sat there people watching, which is just a polite way of saying being nosy. And because of this special skill of mine - coupled with a lot of time on my hands - I was able to compose this blog post. Oh, yeah. One more thing. I paddled, too, but I assumed you knew that merely by the fact that I was located in a canoe.

Canoeing was not a one-person endeavor. Two - and sometimes three - people were trying to steer their craft down the river while avoiding obstacles in the water like rocks, branches, sandbars, and discarded weed-whackers. I kid you not.

I thought about how much like life this day was. It is very important to pick the right person to be in your canoe. There were a couple of boys that Karen christened The Odd Couple (remember Felix Unger and Oscar Madison?) because they spent most of their time bickering over procedure. The fact that they spent time going around in circles made it a long day for them.

It is also important who you follow. At one point there were 2 canoes directly in front of us. One held a couple who seemed to have a clue. The other held the Bear, his friend, and his friend's female cousin. Since the Bear and friends are the only people I know who can turn an 8 mile trip into a 16 mile one by zigzagging from shore to shore, we wisely opted to follow the more sane mature couple. Choose your role models wisely.

Education can happen anywhere. As I was walking along the bank with Polly and Tigger while trying to reach the place where Bear and friends had overturned so that we could help hunt for the girl's glasses (never found them) we happened upon pristine animal tracks on the river bank. It rained a little yesterday so the tracks in the mud were fresh. I took the time to identify them for the girls. There's always something to be learned.

And what about us? Pastor Dad and I got off to a rocky start. Neither of us has been in a canoe in a long time. I know this because we've never been canoeing in all the years we've been married. It took us a bit to get in a proper rhythm where we were working together instead of counterproductively. (Kind of reminds me of the first time we hung wallpaper together.) We beached a few times, collided with other canoes, and basically fought the current instead of allowing the current to work for us. But once we finally got the hang of it the ride was so much more enjoyable. It was still a lot of work, but it was fun.

Yes, there's a metaphor in here. But you're all smart people so I'll let you figure it out for yourselves.