Weekend - Part II

A Moment to Breathe

During the down time I take a few moments to just enjoy the setting. I sit in an office all day, and just being outdoors is a pleasant change. Everything is so much slower here. Life is still life, instead of one moment strung together with another equally frantic moment. Here I am not a slave to the god on my wrist. The feel of the cool breeze on my face, soft sounds of the water splashing against the dock, the expansive sky streching seemingly forever, filled with soft, white clouds. I don't see clouds in Houston; we move too fast to see them. This is the mark of the creator. A day created to reflect on him, on all he has created, and enjoy it and thank him for it.

Boredom Sets In

Reflection is good for a time, but it doesn’t take long for them to start playing in the water. Jarod and Stephen start by floating in a life raft tied to the dock. Soon that is replaced by taking turns overturning each other in some water battle. Seeing all this, and being bored myself, I jump in and join the fray. That left Amy sitting on the dock alone. Plans soon hatched to get her in. Stephen distracts while Jarod approaches from the back. Had the water been a little deeper they would have thrown her in, but eventually she gets in of her own accord. Battle resumes. Soon even throwing the raft about is not enough, and the weed clinging to lake bottom becomes a projectile weapon. After getting covered in weed, Amy opts out and returns to the dock. We three remain, and lake weed abounds. Finally we grow bored with that and return to the dock for the last trip out.

Encore




Stephen and Jarod each go again. Stephen has trouble getting up, already sore from the first outing. Wakeboarding works muscles you forget you have. Jarod struggles a little, but manages to get up again. Finally Amy’s turn has come. She’s had all day to watch everyone, and kneeboards regularly with her family. She gets up on her first try. “Girls seem to get up faster than guys,” Kevin says. Girls tend to listen when you tell them how to do it, and guys want to pretend their previous athleticism will help them, which it won’t. She’s a natural and continues to get up with regularity, wipe out just as often, and enjoying every minute of it.


The Drive Home

I don’t know what I was thinking… A four hour drive up, a day of strenuous activity, then a four hour trip home. Not a good plan, but we did it anyway. Though... I don’t plan on ever doing that again. Jarod offers to drive early on, but I’m okay so far. It was after stopping for dinner that things started to get a little rough. About two hours from home I was starting to get moments of dizziness, though not so much as it could impair my driving. About an hour out, my eyelids were drooping and I wanted nothing more than to be in my bed. I considered letting one of the others drive. Around this time Jarod, in a half-sleep stupor sits up and exclaims, “Oh my God Michael, look out!” It seems he thought he saw a car backing up from a side street and looking like it was not going to stop. There was no car, and not even a side street. At this point I realize that I’m on my own.

Things to do while trying to stay awake:
Listen to music
Sing to music (softly, so as not to disturb my sleeping passengers)
Wake up to music (kidding)
Pray
Drive faster (the adrenaline kick helped, though only for a short time)
Force myself by a sheer act of will to remain awake

Once we got to a part of town I recognized I was excited enough about getting to sleep in my own bed that I was wide awake. The last 30 minutes were a breeze. We pulled up to the house a 12:45 AM. I thanked God he had seen us safely home, told them to get everything they needed out of the car, and went to my room. I was asleep before I hit the bed.

Reflections

What a great day. I’m thankful for friends like Kevin and Rachel, my brother, friends like Stephen and Amy, and safe trips. It was a long day, but well worth it. All my prayers were answered.