Is this freaking you out because you can't remember if this is actually Monday or Tuesday? Hmmm.... You're right. It's actually Tuesday. I'm a day late - and way more than a dollar short! But better a day late than not at all - that's what I decided this week.
This week I can say that I'm a sailor. Ray and I have now been out twice in our new-to-us-but-over-twenty-years-old 14-footer. I read in the paper that twice out and you can call yourself a sailor. How fun is that?
You've already heard lots of metaphors from my lake-long paddle and the getting ready for it. It seems like metaphors for life blossom when one is on the water. Maybe there's time for reflection that doesn't happen quite the same way on land, maybe there's something about the water that makes me ponder, maybe I'm just more aware. Whatever the reason, here's another one that occurred to me in reference to our first and second sailing expeditions.
We have two places we can launch our sailboat on our end of Canandaigua Lake. One is along a brook that feeds into the lake - which requires that you get your boat in the water and then paddle, row, or motor a distance of a hundred yards or so before you can hoist the sail. (I love using words like hoist!) The other is a more open harbor. There you can put your boat in the water, tie up at a dock and hoist your sails. Depending on the wind that day - and your ability to dodge all the moored boats in the harbor, you can sail right out of the harbor. But there's no guarantee that the wind will still be favorable when you need to come back into the harbor.
The question of getting out to the water and back to land again served as a considerable block in our thinking about a boat. Paddling looked like too big a job, we wanted to avoid the motor, and Ray likes to row. So when we found a boat that could be fitted with oar locks, we made the jump.
Our first trip out, we were both discouraged at the beginning and end of the sail. The middle - while we were on the water - was great, but rowing along the channel and out into the lake was a lot less effective than Ray had predicted. Every stroke of the oars that should have taken us yards at a time, seemed only to take us feet. We were starting to wonder about rowing - and beginning to price motors for our boat.
The second time out, we used the harbor - and had a far different experience. This time, when the wind died before we were all the way back, Ray shipped the oars and had us back at the dock speedily and with little effort. Aha! This time the whole experience was more about fun and less about work - which we both see as important to our going sailing often!
What was the difference? Here's the metaphor. Along the channel and at its mouth, there is a lot of weed growth in the water. Those weeds caused enough drag on our boat, that we went half as far with twice the effort. In the harbor where the water is less stagnant and far less weedy, we glided along like it was meant to be.
Which led me to think... When we take the time to clear away the weeds in our life - the doubts, the long-held resentments, the crud that drags us down - we don't have to work as hard to get where we want to be. And we can actually enjoy the trip feeling the rewards of results for our efforts.
Wasn't that worth waiting an extra day?
What weeds do you need to remove from your path before it's smooth sailing?
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