Boats and water play an integral part in our family's well-being. From "our" very first sailboat which took up residence in my parents' living room for a bit to our canoes which see some seasonal use, the family is well-acquainted with riding the water. During the time VIc was employed at our local community college, he was the faculty advisor for their canoe club. Every month year 'round would find him and some canoe enthusiasts trekking off to the Everglades, Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the Youghigheny, the Jersey Pine Barrens, or breaking the ice on some local river or lake. The boys got to accompany their father whenever they wanted and Heather expressed interest in sailing, Vic's first love. Unfortunately for Karen, she missed out on those adventures. My accident and Vic's having his own business combined to put a damper on our boating. But even she noticed how calm and serene Vic was when surrounded by water on our first trip to Newfoundland.
Jump ahead 10 years....
Rarely does everyone in this family agree. Several people are too much alike to get along, we have a significant number of vegans and an equal number of earnest carnivores, about half of us are night people and the other half morning people. You see the problem? Well, the unthinkable occurred on Thursday July 24, 2008 - we all went fishing and had a grand time!
Despite some initially grouchy night people and pouring rain and thunder, we set out at 5 AM for Fortescue, New Jersey. Everyone had managed to get off work to get together as a family to go fishing on the Mariner in Delaware Bay. Karen called at 4:30 AM wondering if we were going to be crazy enough to go fishing in the middle of a storm, but that was as close as a munity we got from anyone. As we travelled down Route 49 in Jersey, it cleared up little by little. When we got there it was still pretty nasty looking. |
