Sometimes Being at the Lake Sucks!

Yes, you read that correctly - sometimes being at the lake does suck - like when we're here and the kids aren't.   I know some of you are probably rolling your eyes and thinking to yourself "what is she, crazy?"  A week with no kids.  Nobody to worry about but herself.  No one to cook for but her husband.  No beach towels dripping on the deck, no water bottles scattered across the table, no dirty dishes piled up in the sink......

For the past 20 something years, our kids have gone with us on every trip out of town.  Every single one.  Since they were old enough to splash the minnows in the bucket, they were on the boat with us while we fished.  They sat in deer stands at dawn and dusk.  They rode in canoes in the moonlight.  We saddled them up on horses and took them riding in the woods.  They sat next to us in golf carts and helped steer around the block.  I don't care what we did, we just packed them up and swept them along on this crazy ride we call our lives.

Until now...

Now they are all grown up and they don't need to be tucked into the back seat of the car anymore, with favored stuffed animals in their laps and a TV and VCR strapped precariously to the center console.  I don't have little hands to hold while standing under the starry sky and watching a full moon rise.  No tiny ears to whisper ghost stories to while the thunder booms outside our camper.  No more naked toddlers dashing up the beach.  No more little voices begging to go for a swim, go for a hike, go fishing, roast marshmallows, play flashlight tag or fly a kite.  "Mom, look at me.... Mom, mom, mom......."

Louie and I are at the lake and the kids are not.  They're at home,  finishing up their last week of school.  Yesterday was a picture perfect day.  It was hot and sunny, with huge billowing white clouds floating across the sky and a gentle breeze rippling the water.  I paddled out to the mouth of our bay and sat in the sun, while tears leaked out of my eyes.   No Chablis paddling next to me in her pink kayak, moaning because I'm getting tanner faster than she is.  Tony's computer stuff isn't strewn all over the cocktail table in the front room.  Televisions weren't blasting from 2 different rooms.  I gathered up some firewood, but somehow it's not the same.  Usually Chablis is tagging along next to me, and I'm stacking logs in her arms.  Tony is always trailing us in the gator so we can toss the wood into the back of it.  Later tonight I'll be forced to start the fire by myself.  That's usually Tony's favorite job when we're at the lake.  Making s'mores tonight just won't be as much fun.

A new chapter is starting in my life.  Chablis graduates from college at the end of the month.  Tony just finished his first year of college.  I've spent 22 years raising 2 great kids.  I tried really hard to teach them right from wrong, to trust and believe in God, to fend for themselves.  It's been 22 years of being a mom and training them for the point in their lives where they will leave us, spread their wings, make their own way.  I think we did a good job.  I know I have to let them fly.

But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

I know they have to grow up and do their own thing.  Please don't tell me it's part of life, or that new things are waiting for me around the corner.  I know I'll soon have the freedom to do what I want, when I want.  I know they will still come to the lake when they can.  But for today, well, I just want to cry.

National Fishing and Boating Week at Snug Harbor Bay

This is my National Fishing and Boating Week contest entry sponsored by Take Me Fishing and the Outdoor Blogger Network.

I can still clearly remember the first time I ever caught a fish.  Sitting on a dock at Lake of the Ozarks, I was fishing with a minnow strung onto the end of a pole with a bobber as big as a beach ball.  I will never forget the thrill of landing that first crappie and I can still remember the smirk I got on my face when my dad called it a crappie, pronouncing it like crap.  Hmmm….  Dad said a swear word and I could get away with it every time I went fishing.  I don’t know which was the bigger draw for me – saying a swear word or watching my dad fillet up that one tiny morsel for my mom to dredge in flour and fry in a pan.  Either way, I was hooked on fishing for the rest of my life.

It’s interesting to reflect on how our roles have changed since I was that 10 year old girl toting an old fishing rod around.  Small acorn bobbers and jigs have taken the place of that giant bobber and the plain hook.  Dad no longer has to remove my fish from the line and mom now does what we affectionately call “the Nonny dangle” as she waits patiently for me to shove a wax worm onto her jig. As a kid I had to be content to sit and fish off the resort pier.  Now I enjoy the freedom of my own pontoon boat as I chauffer my parents around the lake in search of the next big catch.

National Fishing and Boating Week falls June 4-12 this year and I will be on vacation that week with my husband, as well as my parents, who join us for this annual trip.  Mom and Dad have spent 2 weeks with us every summer for the past 19 years.  During that time we have made a lifetime of happy memories as we cruised from one honey hole to the next. 

One day it may be Redear or Bluegill…..

Another it may be striper….

Or on a really good day, it could be bass…

The best thing about fishing is that I was able to share my love for this hobby with my kids.  It’s a tradition that started with my dad, I continued with my husband and we passed on to our children. 

The common thread  fishing line that strings it all together is the smile on our faces as we share the day.  Whether it’s a shriek of “worms on the loose” when the bait gets knocked onto the floor, or a collective “Awwww” when the biggest fish of the day breaks the line, there is still plenty of laughter to go around.  At the end of the day, as the sun sinks and sputters into the lake, we always head back to our cabin a little sunburned, slightly tired and yet very content.

So let me say “thank you dad” for taking me fishing and giving me a lifetime of happy memories on the lake.  There is no place I would rather be. 

Take advantage of National Fishing and Boating Week.  I‘ll be out on the pontoon with my mom and dad, searching for the bluegill.  What will you be doing?  Make a memory.  You’ll be glad you did!