Rapid Pedaling

We were supposed to go white water rafting this past weekend. I remembered this as an after thought on Sunday afternoon while sitting in the yard reading my book and watching John and Jack play.

 It was something I had always wanted to do. When we agreed to the trip, I was so excited about it. Rafting! Camping! It was going to be an adventure, and at 32 I had decided it was going to be a year of trying new things.

And then I wasn’t excited. And I didn’t know why.

Whatever it was, my heart just wasn’t in it. So we backed out of the trip and I didn’t feel sad. Which was odd because I always feel sad when I think I’m missing out.

So this weekend we went out to breakfast at a favorite restaurant where the wait was long and the service was slow and we entertained Jack endlessly. I ate Cinnamon Swirl Stuffed French toast until I couldn’t stomach another bite. I drank a huge cup of coffee and laughed with my family.

Then we went to Historic Smithville, a little old time shopping area. We rode the train and walked the grounds. Jack played with the boats and John suggested renting paddle boats.

I thought it was a bad idea, that Jack would hate it, that it would be a waste of money.

But I agreed and as the attendant put on Jack’s life vest, I saw a hint of adventure in his eyes.  We sat him in between us and let him hold the wheel and we pedaled the boat out into the lake.

He took his job as captain seriously, turning the wheel towards Mommy or Daddy whenever John instructed him. We pedaled along, laughing at the warning that “fast pedaling may cause rapid exhaustion”.

We stopped at a Grape Stomping Festival and walked the shops and watched the grape stomping. We got home late for nap and Jack was overly tired and hot, but happy.

So, that afternoon as I was sitting in my yard watching my family and still marveling over our little paddle boat ride, I remembered the rafting trip. And I laughed at the thought that instead of white water rafting I spent the day paddling around a man made lake.

And I realized that had we gone rafting, I would have missed this. And these are the moments that I don’t want to be missing out on.