Have you maximized your summer? It’s almost done. Soon the snow will fly. Schools and homeschool schedules will pick back up, the lakes will freeze and the boats will be put away. We don’t have a boat but we have friends with boats. They invited us out for some boating and tubing a few weeks ago. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of boats but my kids were all pretty excited for it.
These friends of ours have a few sons in the 20-30-year-old range. They took turns driving the boat that day. They have only one mission when they see an elderly man like me, who’s north of 40, get on the tubey-thing behind the boat. The mission is to throw me up in the air as high as possible and watch me crash into the water. If the elderly get injured that’s like a bonus to these guys.
Well, I can play that game too. I took Mabel along on the boat. Mabel is four years old and she was pretty pumped to hop in the tube. Surely they would not dare toss little Mabel in the drink! The dad took the wheel so I thought he would take it easy on us. When it was our turn, Mabel hopped up on my lap in the tube and we were getting towed at a nice reasonable pace. They were doing some sharp turns and chopping up the waves a bit. Although we weren’t traveling at top speed we were traveling through some rough waters. The front of the tubey-thing caught in the water and started to get sucked down. Before you could say, “Is her lifejacket on?” Mabel and I were sucked beneath the waves. When I realized we were going down I attempted to toss her up in the air so she wouldn’t be completely submerged. I was partially successful.
Mabel got some water in her mouth but stayed pretty close to the surface. What Mabel didn’t realize was that once you’re out of the tube the boat just travels off into the distance without you. This was more concerning to her than the water. She thought they were leaving us out in the middle of the lake to fend for ourselves. “They’re coming back!” I told her. She didn’t seem convinced. And she was done with tubing for the day.
The boat came back and Mabel wanted nothing to do with the tube flailing behind it. Up into the boat she went to get dry and warm. The boat took off before I could get in. Of course. Now I was forced to get back on the tube with one of the enemies whose primary goal was to see me back in the water. Preferably in a mostly-violent way. But they would not succeed. I held on really tight. They tossed me around the lake. The tube flailed and flung around but I remained upon it. The master of my domain. Maybe they didn’t try their hardest but the pain I felt in my body after that ride proved them somewhat successful in their mission.
There’s some warm weather left still, dad. Maybe you’ve got a boat or you can ride along with some friends. Or you could build a campfire, go camping, or canoe if that’s more your thing. Whatever it is, remember time flies! Make every moment count! Even the wet, painful ones.
Jason Weening rarely gets in boats with his 10 kids and one wife. Read about other vehicular adventures in his book, “Yes, Dear…I’m Watching Them”, on Amazon.