As often happens in life, beautiful things can also be scary.
My husband and I just finished up a vacation to see my sister and her family. We spent a week at their 17-acre property that is home to wildlife, geese, birds, squirrels, trees, and wild blackberries. It was wonderful. We camped, cooked on campfires, ate a lot of food, built a blanket fort, and spoiled our nephews and niece.
Their property is also home to Little Minnow Lake, a 7-acre body of water with lots of fish and plant life. We enjoyed some quality time on that water during our time there.
One evening, my 8-year-old nephew, Paul, and I decided to go out on the water. We started out in different boats. I was in a canoe, and he was in a kayak. We had a good time going around the lake, seeing fish jump, and just being outside. Then Paul found out his dad had put his reel on a new fishing rod, and he wanted to get in the canoe with me to go around the lake and fish. Great! As an aunt, it is always fun when your nephew wants to spend time with you.
So he got his new fishing pole and climbed into the front of the canoe. We made it to the middle of the lake before it happened. When my brother-in-law helped me put the canoe in the water, he had warned me that it was a little bit wobbly. I believed him, and I tried to be extra careful when I felt it wobble under me.
Paul was in the front, fishing peacefully. I was paddling slowly and enjoying feeling the breeze in the air. Then all of a sudden I felt the boat wobble. It was more wobbly than it had been, and I couldn’t stop it. I fell right in the water, and the boat turned over.
As I realized what happened and came to the surface, all I could think about was Paul. I was glad he was wearing a life jacket and knew how to swim. But was he okay?
When I got my head above water, I saw that the boat was still upside down, and Paul wasn’t there. I yelled for him and grabbed the side of the canoe. All of a sudden it started to lift a little bit and Paul’s head appeared. He started to scream and yelled that he was scared. I was just relieved he was okay. I grabbed the side of the boat, lifted it up, and pulled him out.
As I swam the canoe back to the shore with Paul, we both talked about how scared we had been but also how happy we were to be okay. I also told him he did a good job of not panicking. We made it back to shore, told everyone what happened, and took a big collective breath that everything was all right.
Later that night, Paul gave me a hug, told me that he loved me, and that he still wanted to go out on the lake with me even though we had both fallen in.
I have to say that during everything we did together during that week, that was one of the best things to happen. Knowing I had messed up, but my nephew still loved me and wanted to do things together. He didn’t hold anything against me even though I rocked the boat enough to dump us in the water, and that made my heart feel good.
We also were able to find his fishing pole and net that had fallen out of the canoe when it went over, and thankfully my phone was in the house when this happened, so it didn’t end up at the bottom of the lake 🙂
Glimpses from the Other Side 