Last Saturday was my wife’s birthday, and we left the kids at home with her in-laws. For her present, Ginny and I rented a tandem kayak for a group paddle on the Haw River in Saxapahaw. Our cheerful guide informed us that the boat was known as the “divorce kayak.” O ye of little faith!
Paddling a tandem kayak is not a bad metaphor for marriage. Each partner has a role and work to do. Communication is essential, or else you go off course. One person’s playful splash might be another’s great annoyance. If you are Ginny, you don’t get mad; you get even.
We signed up for a night paddle in hopes of seeing the stars, yet it was cloudy. Another life lesson is that much is beyond our control.
However, there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of fireflies flashing in the trees on both sides of the river. They were our stars instead.
I am not an entomologist, but I think the purpose of their little flashes is to attract a mate. I might say something saccharine here about Ginny’s light and how I thank my holy stars for her, but let me end by noting another natural wonder.
The guide told us that certain fish—carp, I believe—jump out of the water at night, and they sound like cannonballs when they splash back into the river. Admittedly, I was skeptical.
Twenty minutes into the paddle, there was a blast of water in the darkness about fifteen feet to our right! Though it was her birthday, Ginny’s delightful laugh rippling over the water was a gift to all of us paddling our way forward.
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of the book with Wipf and Stock Publishers titled This Is the Day: A Year of Observing Unofficial Holidays about Ampersands, Bobbleheads, Buttons, Cousins, Hairball Awareness, Humbugs, Serendipity, Star Wars, Teenagers, Tenderness, Walking to School, Yo-Yos, and More. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he is a student of joy.
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