Family Time

Over this past weekend, I went out to Lake O’ The Pines to spend time with my family, even the dogs came. We stayed in an Airbnb that was right on the lake. We had not planned to do anything the whole entire time that we were there. We just wanted to spend time with each other and relax. This is exactly what I talked about in one of my previous podcast episodes (Do Nothing and Relax).

I arrived to the house on Friday night around 8PM because I didn’t get off work till late and had to drive the hour and a half to get there. But on my way in, I could see this amazing sunset that was happening with the reflection off of the lake. Right then at that moment, I decided that the next night I was going to go kayak out on the lake and watch the sunset and snag a few pictures of it.

When I woke up Saturday, I sat on the front porch with my dad, drink coffee, watched the sunrise, and watched the deer wonder in front of the house. Now my dad does something similar to this every day because he is retired, but I don’t get to sit around and leisurely stroll into the day. After coffee and breakfast my sister and I decided to make our plans for the kayak float later that night. My sister has never been kayaking before so this was going to be a new adventure for her. She seemed a little nervous when I was explaining things to her but I knew she was going to have a good time. We looked up the time of the sunset and decided we needed to be out on the lake around and hour and a half before it actually set so we could pick the best place to get a view of it.

So after lunch and a few naps it was finally time to head out of the lake. I loaded up my car with the kayaks and my camera and headed down to the boat ramp, which no longer exist. We had to carry the kayaks about 70 to 80 yards from the road to just to get to the lake. As we were walking down I did notice that there were a lot of clouds in the sky but it was supposed to clear up by sunset. I was worrying because some of the best sunsets I have got pictures of have clouds all over them.

As I got my sister in her kayak and push her out into the lake, I come to realize why I had not seen many people on the lake today, it was unbearably humid on the lake! I could instantly feel the difference in the humidity when I got on the water, but a little humidity wasn’t going to stop me from view the sunset. We paddled for about an hour around the banks of the lake and had decided the best view of the sunset was going to be right where we put in. As we sat in our kayaks waiting for the sun to set I had realized that we probably won’t get to see the actual sunset because the clouds never disappeared as the weatherman had promised. Right as I had given up hope of seeing the sunset the clouds broke in a small spot in the sky and I got the smallest glimpse of the actually sunset.

My sister kept telling me she was sorry that I didn’t get to see this amazing sunset that I was excited to see, but I wasn’t disappointed in any fashion at all. I just mainly enjoyed spending time doing something with my sister that we both enjoy. My sister had never been kayaking before and the whole entire time that we were paddling she kept telling me that sees why I enjoy it so much and that she can’t wait to get her own kayak. I love introducing people to new adventures and new things. The best part about this experience was that it was with my sister.

Spending time with your family isn’t something that you do on a regular basis as you get older. You might call them once or twice a week to update them on things that you are doing or just to hear your voice, but actually spending time with them and building those memories is what it is truly about. I originally wasn’t going to with my family that weekend because I wanted to stay home and do homework all weekend. I am sure glad that I changed my mind because I made a lot of great memories with my family this past weekend that I will never forget.