Some days there is no wind and not even a whisper of a ripple on the water. Each morning for the last two weeks when I’ve crossed the Mockingbird Bridge over White Rock Lake on my way to work, the water has been like glass.
The view down the lake has been spectacular with the last of the fall colors. The weather has been crisp and cool, in the fifties early in the morning and warming up to the seventies by afternoon. That’s perfect fall weather.
It was on a day like this that I really fell in love with canoeing. My brother and were on the last night of a week long canoe trip on Isle Royale. It’s an island in the middle of Lake Michigan and may be the least visited of our National Parks. It’s a half day boat ride from Houghton, Michigan, which is a long drive from almost anywhere.
In any event, the water was like glass, the moon was bright and after a week long trip in the canoe, carrying all our camping gear, we unloaded the canoe and took it for a night paddle. Skimming over the perfectly smooth water felt like flying and I’ve loved canoeing ever since that evening.
But, as I was saying before I wondered off into another story, every single morning for the last two weeks White Rock Lake has been like glass and I’ve looked at it and said to myself, “I should be canoeing." Every single morning I’ve driven straight on to work and not returned home until it was long dark. With CityWalk in the rush towards completion and Re:Vision Dallas heating up (more about both projects soon)—along with another half dozen projects demanding attention—there hasn’t been time for canoeing.
This weekend, though, I will find some time to get out on the water in my boat. I could work every minute of the rest of my life and never complete our mission of housing the homeless and providing beautiful and affordable housing for all our neighbors. Sometimes, you have to set limits and let yourself take some time to canoe.
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