Happy Father’s Day to Me!

Yesterday was Father's Day. In the past, when Jenelle asked me what I wanted to do for Father's Day, I was usually happy to get together with the rest of the family at Dad’s pavilion where we would grill and fish and hang out. It always brought Dad joy, having everyone together, seeing us fishing and enjoying the pavilion.

This time when Jenelle asked, I had to think about it. Since my dad passed away a couple of months ago, the day was pretty much wide open. What would I like as a father? The kids would be free until evening. “How about I do some steaks on the grill after church and then we go canoeing on the Savage. You can make a dessert. We'll paddle to the other side somewhere, eat our dessert and paddle back. Nothing major. That way the kids will still be able to make it to all of the fun things they have planned for the evening.”

To me it sounded like a perfect day! I grilled some ribeye steaks that we dug out of our freezer and made some cornbread. Jenelle concocted up a garden salad and then made her delicious strawberry pie!

The steaks and cornbread and salad led up to a short power nap. After that important part of the day, we loaded up the canoes and got everything ready.

It used to be that we would just take one canoe. With Jenelle and I in the seats, the kids would play in the center and dangle their arms in the water. When they got a little bigger we would take two canoes. This year, since they are all over or close to the six foot mark, we need three canoes. We loaded two on the truck and one on the car. We're only a hop, skip and a jump to the Savage, so taking two vehicles really isn't a big deal, but looking into the future, a major canoe trip is going to require a little more work and we'll probably need to drag the canoe trailer along.

With Blake paddling solo, Aiyana and Caleb in one canoe and Jenelle and I in another, we had quite the fleet.

Paddling with a partner can sometimes be challenging, at least until you figure out that the guy in the back is in charge. Even then, the person in the back still has to paddle following and counter paddling the person up front. If that's not happening then there's usually a lot of commanding and arguing going on because it's no fun being told exactly what to do every couple of strokes, nor is it fun to tell someone what to do. As a father, watching the kids paddling together and having a fun time brought me a lot of joy!

We paddled across the reservoir and up the opposing shoreline. For those of us that like to paddle, the Savage is truly one of the best kept secrets of our area. And to be able to be in the water ten minutes after loading up the canoes definitely has me spoiled! 

In fact, I've often had people tell me that I'm lucky in living where I live and getting to do everything I do. I'm not a big believer in luck and so I don't really see it that way. I'm a big dreamer. There are so many things that I would love to do and see and have, that just aren't feasible. And there's a bucket load of dreams and trips that I just wasn't able to make happen. At the same time I've been able to do and see some things that others of you haven't. Having Jenelle by my side as the optimum planner is definitely a plus. At the same time I believe every one of us has been blessed with different things and it's never the same thing for everyone.

I see those things as gifts. So I choose to be content in that and thank God for every single one of those blessings that he's given me.

After eating Jenelle’s most delicious strawberry pie ever, we paddled back towards the truck. Joking and laughing and splashing each other, it felt perfect to me. I brought up the idea of another trip to the Boundary Water Canoe Area next summer. It sounds like everyone is on board, but it's twenty couple of hours away. Logistically, it doesn't look like it can happen next year. Between all of the kids' school stuff and college and summer jobs, life is looking full. Jenelle suggested a shorter trip to  Algonquin Provincial Park. It's a lot closer even though it's in Canada. Maybe that is something that can happen. We might try for it.

And even if it doesn't happen, I'll be content and thankful for the day we had on the Savage. 

God is good! 

Happy Father's Day to me!