Times Have Changed. Or Have They…?

I grew up in the country where there were many more animals per square mile than people. There were no cell phones, no internet, and certainly no malls or McDonalds dotting every corner. Essentially, there was no instant gratification.

During summers, especially, we kids had to learn to be resourceful if we wanted to get together and have fun. Otherwise the specter of boredom loomed large.

I’ve always lived near and loved the water. So, of course, one of the first things I bought myself when I’d saved enough money was this.

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Granted, she was used and had seen better days…

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But she still had a lot of sea-worthy miles left on her. I practically lived on that thing during the summers.

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And there were always plenty of willing friends only too happy to play first mate.

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Over the years, I’d taught many a friend the finer points of sailing.

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But wait… that’s not me!  Who are these kids zipping back to shore?

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Could it be…?

Like mother, like daughter. Cait finally caught the sailing bug this summer.

Looks like we’ll be in the market for another used cat come next summer. Anybody got one they’d like to sell?

6 thoughts on “Times Have Changed. Or Have They…?”

  1. Deb, I am SO with you on that one! I’ve also never gotten the thing with throwing fully-clothed people into the pool. Cait knows that safety comes first. It’s not fun to be on the water (or in a car) with friends and not feel safe.

    Along the lines of your canoeing, another thing we kids used to do in summer after a heavy rain was to take these little plastic boats (big enough to hold one person) and shoot the rapids. Talk about nuts! No helmets or life preservers back then. Just lots of fun and luck. Nobody ever got hurt. But also no need to dunk anybody, because we’d all get soaked by the raging rapids anyway.

  2. I like the idea of water until I get there. In the right circumstances I have enjoyed canoeing but not with groups that insist on dunking every canoe. I’ve never figured out the fascination with dunking and seemingly reasonable balanced adults are the worst offenders.

    It’s good to hear that there are many responsible water sports enthusiasts around; just not locally.

  3. Holly, water is a funny thing. I actually prefer lakes and rivers to the ocean, but a lot of people live for the ocean — including my husband and daughter. Other people need the mountains or the dessert. I guess we all have particular landscapes that hold a special draw. If I had to pick my absolute favorite, it would be the plains. Nothing like a big sky to blast my spirit wide open.

    Cindy, I hate being IN water where I can’t see the bottom. But I love being ON it — as long as it’s a sail boat. I get sea sick on anything with a motor. I know, I’m weird.
    As for the ocean’s vastness, it can be intimidating — all that boundlessness… Yes, being scared into the sacred! How perfect is that! LOL! But the sound… oh that soothing sound.
    I wonder what that was when you were young? Maybe an inherent/intuitive understanding of the overwhelming power of it? Interesting to contemplate.

  4. I had to laugh….”Open water sacred me”. Of course I meant “scared me”, but in re-reading the post maybe “sacred” is the better word here. Changing the “a” and the “c” is all it takes to turn something around, for the better! What scares us is IS something sacred in the bigger picture. If we confront it, it will bless us……it will change itself into something welcome in our lives….like the water is now for me. Just musings on a typo, but it caused me to think deeper……

  5. Funny, I grew up around the ocean, I was a Santa Monica beach baby….I learned to walk on that beach. I have a few (very few) precious memories of deep sea fishing with my dad (it was where he was in his element and completely at peace) and one glorious summer day on a sailboat with him….but I hated the water! Open water sacred me. I had no reason to be scared of it, nothing to relate it to, but I couldn’t wait to be back on dry land. The special time with my dad was what I loved the most, and what I reveled in at the time. So, now that I’ve been away from California for twenty four years and I live far away from any open body of water, what do I miss? Yep, the ocean! At this point in my life I now crave it. I feel my innate connection to it, a oneness with it. When I experience the magic of the water’s movement, it’s vastness and it’s beckoning I just wonder what all that was about back then. Last summer our family spent two weeks on Lake Superior and I was in pure heaven! I wish you blissful days on the water Karen, whenever you can manage it, and with your daughter Cait. As a mom you’ve given her something that will no doubt be a solace and a joy to her throughout her life. It’s such a gift…..

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