“???” Ben texted me this morning. He had been expecting to hear from me but hadn’t.
“I haven’t heard from Santosh, yet,” I texted back.
Santosh is half a world away from his family today on (our) Father’s Day, and I had offered that perhaps he should join us in our plans. But it turned out that he had other plans after all, and so Ben and I soon made ours. They involved (as they often do in good weather) kayaking on the lake.
Soon we were on the water, sitting a good two or three feet lower than the high-water marks visible on the trees along the shore, marks left after they opened all the flood gates on the upstream dams to shed as much water as they could as quickly as they could, because the lakes were over-full with no additional capacity should it rain again (which is has been doing for months).
There we were. Paddling upstream.
Under the Mopac bridge. Past Deep Eddy. Along the north shore, sometimes taking shelter from the scorching sun under a canopy of overhanging Pecan trees. Past the cliffs bedecked with mansions at the top and Canyon Wrens singing their hearts out as if we were in the middle of a wilderness.
We paddled past the swinging tree, where a group of people was swinging from a rope hanging from a massive Cypress and splashing into the water. We paddled past the downstream point of Redbud Island, where dogs were jumping into the water chasing sticks and floating toys. And we paddled toward the dam.
Toward the dam. But we didn’t get there.
As we paddled, the water became swift. And then swifter. And finally so swift that the joy of it left us. Ben looked at me and asked, “What say you?” I nodded and we ceased our paddling to let the current slowly turn our kayaks and then quickly push us back past the dogs and the swinging tree and across the river where the wind coming upstream was a welcome relief from the heat.
We paddled back to where we had started three-and-a-half hours earlier. And from there, we went to have a hamburger.
And now I must confess to you, that I am mighty tired, and I have nothing more to say about this wonderful Father’s Day (for which I am grateful), because I am about to lay me down.