Photo Booth.appMy husband Lee, and I, took a little river cruise this past weekend from Aqua Yacht Harbor & Marina on Pickwick Lake, near Counce, TN to the Marina in Florence, AL
It is normally about a 4-5 hour boat ride; cruising around 12-15 knots. The weather was perfect. The sky was brilliant that day and speckled with a few wispy clouds, that looked like bites of cotton candy painted on a sea blue canvas. There was no rain in sight on the radar for at least 24 hours, so we were all set to go.
Lee’s brother, Tony, and his wife Nancy, came along for the ride. We don’t go anywhere without our dog Sophie, so she was aboard for the journey too!
We had plans to shove off about 10:30AM but due to some unforeseen circumstances, we didn’t weigh anchor until closer to 1:00PM. We were trying to be in port in Florence by 5:00PM before their staff left for the day. So, instead of the layed-back, relaxing cruise I had envisioned, Lee had to use a heavy hand on the throttle…traveling the majority of the trip between 20-25 knots, trying to make up time.
The result was the same, we got there by 5:00PM. But, the journey wasn’t as enjoyable had we been able to take our time. And that was the point in going …to relax, kick back and enjoy the ride!
Do you find that your daily life is too often like this scenario? You rush around, minding your to-do-lists, making plans, only to find that sometimes you miss out on the joy along the way.
Now granted, we had great company and good conversation on our expedited trip. We listened to some great music and soaked up some of the last rays of sunshine for the season. We even had our own little wine and cheese party on the boat after we docked in Florence and watched the sun go down. So all in all it was still a great trip!
When we docked in Florence, we were forewarned by the Harbor Master, of a cannon explosion that is done every day at sunset from the State Park beside the marina. This explosion is to celebrate the end of the day and the beginning of a new one.
The locals come from miles around to visit the park and to be a part of the day’s end celebration. However, even with the advance notice, Lee, Tony, Nancy and Sophie were still startled by the blast! I had gone below deck to take a quick shower before we went to dinner and only heard a mild thump from below deck.
It was getting dark, so Lee decided to take Sophie for a quick walk before we left for dinner, while the rest of us continued to get showered and changed. Having just gotten out of the shower myself, I began to dry my hair when all of a sudden the electrical system was overloaded from the added WATS of power from the hair dryer and all the power on the entire starboard side of the boat shut down. Not Good!
I searched for a breaker to trip on the control panel in the salon, or a reset button to flip, but couldn’t locate a master switch. When Lee returned, he was perturbed to say the least. His frustration was somewhat directed toward me, because I should have known that we needed to adjust for the additional power being used. Now, here we were, in simi-darkness, all trying to get ready for dinner without total power. It was unintentional on my part, but I felt responsible regardless!
The much younger, and a bit more feisty Marie, would have made a few choice comments that would have fueled the situation further. But since we had company on board this time, I decided to keep my comments to myself… but also to remove myself from the situation and let Lee handle it.
I walked on over to the restaurant at the marina and sat down at a table outside the door and waited for the others to join me, wet hair and all! Ok, so maybe I’m still a little feisty, because that wasn’t the best response for the “hostess with the mostest” – I know!
As I sat there, I recalled the story of a wise King from Jerusalem that is written in the book of Ecclesiastes, and a poem I had just recently written regarding that same story. The King ponders all of life’s questions and determines that everything is “meaningless” under the sun, except to fear God and keep His commands!
So, after contemplating that thought again, I even said it out loud …”meaningless, meaningless, utterly meaningless” …to remind myself that it was not necessary to get all bent out of shape over the blown circuit and that maybe I acted too hasty in walking away!
Tony and Nancy eventually joined me. Tony even asked if we could just hit the reset button and enjoy the rest of the night. I agreed! However, I wasn’t sure if Lee would show up for dinner or not, since his concern was the power surge and the possibility of a fire. I knew he didn’t want to leave the boat unattended, especially with Sophie on board either. Tony and Nancy had left him trying to contact his service guy back at Aqua Yacht Marina to see if there was anything else that he needed to check out.
Lee did finally join us, after determining that it was just the power cord that bit the dust and not anything electrical on board. The generator was up and running and we were in good shape!
We made our apologies for the frustrated comments and actions that had put a slight damper on the beginning of the evening and determined to make the best of it. We agreed again to hit the reset button for the rest of the night!
Funny how the real reset button that day was not one found below deck, that could have allowed me to finish drying my hair. But the one found in our hearts, when we decided to let go of the silly “meaningless” thing that kept us from being our best!
Is being confrontational a stumbling block for you? Do you sometimes create more tension in situations by adding unnecessary comments to the equation, or drama that only fuels the fire? I can tell you from my own experience, that this type of response is futile. It gets you nowhere, and in the grand scheme of things is meaningless! Proverbs 15:1 states “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger”. Proverbs 16:24 also reminds us that, “Kind words are like honey…sweet to the soul and healthy to the body.”
Lee has often said, “A bad day on the lake is better than a good day at work” …and that’s hard to deny!
We apologized again to each other on the boat ride home on Sunday. We also agreed to try to work on our responses to each other and to treat each other like we would if we were each other’s client instead of family. It’s sad, but we do sometimes treat perfect strangers better than the ones we are supposed to care about and love the most.
We are also learning to hit the reset button of life , so that when things don’t go our way, or frustrations steal our joy, we can be assured to end the day with a cannon blast celebration…wet hair optional!
