Setting Sail

Last fall, so late that it already felt like winter, that Spouse o' Mine and I purchased a sailboat.  A small boat - a dinghy.  I remember that it was sleeting the day we looked at - and took - the boat.  That's faith in one's fellow man, to be sure.  No test driving for this transaction, so late in the season.

I am happy to report that the sailboat is sea (or at least lake-) worthy.  I have photos of OUR Zuma sailboat somewhere, but I cannot find them.  Maybe they're on another computer.  Anyway, here is a stock photo of a ZUMA:

Today we went out to the lake and set sail.  The wind was mild, and at one point almost non-existent.  The ONE time in our summer that we want a bit o' wind.  (Really.  No Kansas wind, please, unless it's a sail day.)  It was fun, though, gliding along, my fingers making little trails in the water as we moved along.  We waved at the ski boats, the bass boats, the houseboats.  We are dinky, a dinky dinghy in their wakes.

Fun, nevertheless.

When we got back to the boat ramp, that Spouse o' Mine hopped out effortlessly and exclaimed, "It's really shallow!"  He was standing ankle-deep in the water.  I hopped out from my side of the boat, into a water depth over my head.  DUNK!!

Which takes me back, years and years ago, the first time we ever took our kids, ages three, five, and six, fishing on a boathouse.  They all had life jackets on.  That Spouse o' Mine, their father, asked them, "What will you do if you fall into the water?"

They looked at him, stunned.

He answered his own question, "SWIM!  You will swim!"

What a great lesson he taught them right then and there.  They already knew how to swim.  But to put Point A to Point B: Fall in...SWIM.

Today I jumped in, expecting to remain fairly dry after a dry sailing trip, but there I was - soaked.  I came up laughing.  Expect the unexpected, I suppose.