Day on the Lake…and Getting Old

We spent Labor Day at Raystown Lake. I think the last time I was there was probably the 90s. We went this year with my brother-in-law’s family, they have a camp and a boat. It made me think about being a kid. Time for a story.

Some of our family members had boats and we would go to Raystown or Howard Dam during the summer. Everyone would go tubing or skiing. Well, everyone except me because I could not swim. I did not learn to swim until I was in junior high. So I would go on the boat, and watch everyone else do the fun stuff. And I was too scared to try.

One of the cool things about my dad was that he never had any fear with stuff like that. He went tubing, and skiing. He was not too bad, he would try anything, and I remember when he tried jumping the waves a few times, and wiped out. I remember the one time, he ended up black & blue all over. 

Flash-forward to Monday. We are out on the boat, and Payton is all excited to try tubing. She did it and the boat went slow, but she was still a little scared. She did it a little later, and the tube bounced a few times, and she immediately gave the signal to stop. She was done with that, but she was fine being in the water and swimming. 

Logan…he does not like to go in the water. It is weird. He is not afraid of going under. He is afraid that with floaties/life jacket that he will not come back up. Like I said, it is weird. But Logan loves going fast, and he wanted to try tubing. And he did. He went out with Lincoln, and the boat went decently fast, and he loved it. Honestly, I have no idea what would have happened to him if he would have fallen in the water (maybe it would have cured his fear when he realized his life jacket was making him float OR it would have scarred him for life).

After watching the kids do it, and Lindsey do it. I decided I wanted to give it a try. Adam and I hopped in the tube, and I told the captain (Adam’s step-brother, who is also named Adam) to go fast. He did. The first time, we went for a decent bit, then as we started going side-to-side, we hit a big wave, and the tube started to flip…we got tossed, and it was all good. We came back to the boat, and we said we would go again. This time we were flying, and we saw a bald eagle. Then we hit a calm spot of water, while going very fast, the tube was practically airborne and then….we were airborne. This time I was more ready, or so I thought. The first time, my body immediately tried to hold on tight, and I did not take a deep breath before going under. This time, I let go of the tube, held my breath…and then hit water hard, chest first. It knocked the breath out of me, and I got a big lungful of water. We got back on the boat, and my body hurt. 

We came home, my chest, neck, shoulders all ached. But you know what? It was awesome. I had a great time, and want to do it again next summer.