Going
to the Optional School as a kid was great, we got to see up close what Mom and
Dad did and meet some of their friends and co-workers. They had a lot of great
friends but I have to say my favorite were Pam and Tom.
Now Pam and Tom were a different from most any other
adults I knew. Pam was a teacher and Tom was a Vietnam Veteran, although only
much later in life did I come to understand what that was and what it meant for
Tom. Both loved the outdoors. They spent all their spare time, canoeing,
hiking, or camping in any season or weather. They being close friends with Mom
and Dad sometimes took chase and I along for outdoor fun. We would go to a
nearby lake and jump in the canoe or kayak and off we would go. Pam and Tom saw
to it we always wore life vests before leaving the dock. They were very
responsible. The four of us would spend the afternoon paddling around. Backup…
They would spend the afternoon paddling around and I would ride. Most often, I
sat in the middle of the canoe between Pam and Tom and Chase would most often
have his own kayak. To give me the experience of the kayak, they put me in one
and towed me behind the canoe. I was much lower in the water and it was much
lighter. I tried rowing but could not hold onto the paddle all that well. The
towing option worked well. We would explore small hidden coves and shallow
creeks feeding into the lake. It was always a blast. One evening, they took us
out for a similar adventure only at night. It was unreal.
We got the lake
right around sundown. By the time we got the car unloaded and got the canoe and
the kayak in the water, it was pitch black. The water was as smooth as glass.
Tom explained to us although we could see, we were required to carry a light
source so other boats could see us. Chase carried a flashlight and we had a
lantern in the canoe with us. Everything takes on a surreal yellowish greenish
glow under lantern light. We only saw two or three other boats and they were
nowhere near us. It felt like we had the whole lake to ourselves. The night was
full of stars and there was no moon and the middle of the lake everything was
still and quiet. All that could be heard was the oars going in and out of the
water. Chase would get pretty far off and Tom would ask him to wait up. Our destination
was a shallow creek going back into some woods. We went from one extreme to
another. It became very claustrophobic with trees growing on either side of the
bank, which was barely wide enough for us to squeeze through. A noisy endless
song of crickets and other nocturnal summer bugs replaced the silence in the
middle of the lake. We could not see beyond the yellowish green glowing trees
or hear if anything was approaching our slow moving boats. I was excited, happy
and even a little fearful all at once. We emerged at another place on the lake
and rowed back to the car. The adventure was fairly short, perhaps just two and
a half hours but it helped me to fall in love with the natural world. No amount
of smooth floors and sidewalks could replace being on a still lake with friends
in the dark.
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