The Inner Yahoo

One of the best things about a week at the lake is that you get to literally unplug from your regular life. We don't have cable at the lake, so there was very little tv watching. Lots of time spent playing, visiting on the porch, or reading. No phones to ring (except Papack's cell from time to time). None of the "tyranny of the urgent" to distract you from your getaway.

At the lake, we get to do things we don't do in our life at home. Go on a boat ride whenever we want. Take the boys tubing. Sit in the porch swing and "fish". Ride a paddleboat. Play with our boys for hours uninterrupted. All of those activities help a person get back in touch with their true self. Their "Inner Yahoo." The person we would love to be all the time, except that daily life gets in the way.

At the lake, you begin to really relax. You begin to think about things you used to do. Things you used to do all the time, and now you never do. You start to wonder why you don't do them anymore, and just exactly what is stopping you from doing them now. And then, suddenly, that Inner Yahoo can't stand it any longer and speaks up.

That's what happened Friday morning. We had finished breakfast and were sitting on the porch waiting on the day to get started. Several people were drinking second cups of coffee. We were chatting quietly, and all of a sudden, someone's Inner Yahoo said, "I think I might ski today."

Now, it wasn't me who said that. It wasn't Brent who said that. It was Papack who said that! Before that yahoo could change his mind, we scurried around and got everyone dressed and down to the dock. I couldn't remember exactly the last time I saw Daddy ski, but I knew it had been at least 15 years. They loaded up the boat and I watched from the dock with the camera in hand. Papack is a slalom skiier, but the back boot on the slalom broke a few years back. So he skiied on two that morning. Here are the pictures that he specifically said I could not put on the blog. Hee Hee!

in the water untangling the ski rope

He flew out of the water and skiied two laps around the lake like he was walking on dry ground.

After they came in, I went back up to the house where Jonathan was napping. A bit later, I heard the boat start up again and figured Brent had decided to ski. So I grabbed the camera again and got back down to the dock. As I was walking out, I saw the boat going incredibly close to the dock, with Papack behind it again! This time, he had dropped a ski and was on one ski heading around the lake again!

And I'm pretty sure I heard a couple of "yahoo"s as he went by!