I'm On a Boat

I did not sleep well last week. I'd go to bed late, and then just lay there not sleeping, and then get up in the morning, and I didn't always get a nap after my internship. Friday night Jackie's internet randomly stopped working. She didn't know quite what to do about it. I, of course, could really do nothing, but I felt I had to show my support and concern by staying awake with her for the first little while as she tried to get her computer to connect to their internet. Jackie stayed up later than I did, but I still didn't go to bed until about 2 AM, then I woke up at 7:30 AM, about 45 minutes later than I intended.


You see the singles branch was having a boating activity that day and they were meeting at the church building... no wait, the Fred Meyer's parking lot (there were conflicting reports about where we were supposed to meet), to drive to Vantage. Jackie was in charge- ish. She was called to be the activities committee chair the Sunday after I got here, so the boating trip had already partially been planned by the previous person, but Jackie was in charge of the eating portion.


It reminded me of the last time I went on a boating activity.It was three years ago and I went camping with some friends the night before. I never sleep well while camping, because, you know, its not really comfortable to begin with, and I always think of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Its a cautionary tale of a girl who had a complete disregard for nature and earth and the creatures that already inhabit the wild. While I try to always be respectful, I'm worried I'll still end up asleep in baby bear's bed. Plus we were on a slant, and I kept waking up and should probably have moved, but I was too exhausted to do so, and since I wasn't in a tent I also had a fear that baby bear, or a wolf, was hovering right over my head, ready to strike. Then we got up early and went to Jordanelle. It took me forever to work up the nerve to try water skiing, and then I only got three shots at it before the boat had to go in. I'm certain if I had been able to give it one more try I would have gotten all the way up.


So THIS time we got there and went out on the boat. The driver of the boat dictated the first few people to try the wake-board. The first guy just could not get up. Time after time after time he tried and failed. He finally came in and the boat driver announced it was Jackie's turn. She nervously went out there, and then got up on her second try, which I found inspiring. We also wished we had brought our cameras with us to document this event. As Jackie was coming in the boat driver said anyone else could try that wanted to and I thought to myself, "Lindsey, if you don't try now, you may never have the chance." So as Jackie pulled the board off her feet and he said, "anyone else?" I said, "I'll do it!" before I had the chance to mentally talk myself out of it.


Guess what. I got up on my first try! Another attempt had me riding the wake for a few seconds, which was really kind of a weird feeling. It was AWESOME though. Again with the lamentations on the lack of photographical documentation.


Then we went back to the shore and ate some of the delicious food Jackie had provided. Chicken, grapes, pineapple, chips, and lemonade, all on the beach, until a giant wasp decided to hang out with us; then we slowly removed our towels from the sand and calmly walked away from the area. 


Then back out on another boat to go tubing.

It was also my first time doing that. We were yanked around on the tube pretty well, and jumped a few waves. Jackie was crying out in terror the whole time, and Brandi was laughing at her. I went back and forth between laughing at Jackie and crying out in terror with her. It was a lot of fun though.


Then we went out on a third boat because we wanted to go wake boarding again. Jackie was able to go again. It was a different board, and the waves were choppier, so she had a more difficult time getting up, so she decided to go ninja boarding instead.

She moves like a stealth through the water...


I really wanted to go again, but there was another girl on the boat who hadn't gone yet, and we had to talk her into going, she was certain she was going to make a fool of herself. I told her it was impossible because she was on a boat full of people who had only gone for their first time that day, so she was in good company.


Then she went out there and did this:

She stayed up for a long time. So even though we were on a time crunch because a few people on the boat had to get back to shore to leave and I didn't get a second try at it, I was glad she was able to get out there and conquer her fear. Its nice when you can transfer that feeling of doing that to someone else no?


Just to prove to you I did actually attend this event, here is a picture of me on the boat with Brandi and her brother. Yes, I'm really white, don't judge me.

Then we came home and somewhere between giving Jackie the pictures from my camera, talking about how exhausted we were, and how we needed to shower, I passed out from pure exhaustion, just as I had done the last time I went boating. I intended to wake up once Jackie got out of the shower, which was sometime around 7 PM. Then I decided I could nap a little longer. At 8:45 PM I woke up to Jackie getting a chair to go outside and get a picture of something. I showered and when I came out, Jackie was passed out on her bed. I followed suite. 


This morning, my shoulders hurt like nothing else.


It was such a fun day.