Lessons on Kayaking

Years ago I went kayaking at my friend Lisa's beach cottage. The kids had taken a boat to go bridge jumping & Lisa & I were following behind in the kayaks. I struggled, can't exactly explain what the trouble was,but as Lisa glided thru the water seemingly effortlessly making fast movement toward the bridge, I was in mortal combat against stagnant water and directionless momentum. At one point Lisa called to me from across the way," I'm really enjoying watching you try to do this".   LOL

It looks so peaceful doesn't it?

Fast forward,we go to Eastham every year, and there is only so much to do in the cape, the point I suppose, nonetheless, I like to do a little something when on vacation. This year I decided the littlest ones were only enough and we rented Kayaks. My lucky co-pilot was Alex.

As soon as we set off there were signs of trouble. Mainly the littlest kids were leaving us in the dust and the older kids were already out of sight and we were barely a kayaks length from the dock.

Alex said, "I can't believe they just pushed us off without giving us directions ( true first born)". I said, "we can do this!" I was wrong.
I was with the strongest one in our group, and we could barely go a kayak's length in a straight line (I am starting to understand the problems we encountered while white water rafting). There has been no physical challenge Alex could not count on his body to meet, except apparently kayaking.

After 2 hours of painfully slow forward, veer right, go in a circle, try again, veer right. repeat.  Paddle backwards for a while,  hook up with the little kids and ask them to tow us,  one goes one one side, one the other, two strokes on the left side, one on the right. we tried everything. Nothing that worked. His frustration level, and my patience were are cross roads & we decided to head back in. Watching his little brother & his friend glide by us effortlessly was demoralizing. We even studied their technique to try to replicate it- nothing. All the while I felt it my job to buoy my son's drive.
" We can do this Alex!, Every stroke is one closer to home! Come on , we can figure this out. Eye on the prize" I cheered on.
 For part of the trip Alex walked through ozzing mud/sand mixture pulling our kayak. whenever he could ,for as long as he could. Once the water was too deep, he declared he was no longer helping & it was up to me to get us home. He quit. He put his paddle on his lap and sat there, allowing me to try to navigate the beast the rest of the way to the dock. Believe me I contemplated pulling up to shore ( since the stupid boat kept heading that way anyway) and hitch hiking back to the rental store a few times. but get there we did.

Later that night, over the bonfire in the back yard, Alex felt comfortable enough to tell me he felt like hitting me with the paddle because I was so " damn positive, you were annoying. Just admit it mom," it sucked" he begged. And I did.  " Oh it sucked bud," I said. " but what good  does that do us? What are you going to do in college when you are overwhelmed by your work load or don't know how to figure it out?I don't want you to give up, I want you to know you can do it"

"I will have a rubric" He says. Point taken. Maybe had I admitted how much, how very much the experience sucked, and how many times I was thinking of pulling the &^%$ kayak out of the water & walking back, maybe I wouldn't have done the last leg on my own, maybe, had I joined him, he would have joined me.

In my desire to teach him a life lesson, I believe he taught me one.