The End of my Summer on Rice Lake
Hard as it is for me to believe, tonight is my last night at Rice Lake for this year. The fall weather certainly confirms that the summer is over, but how fast it went!
Luckily for my last night, I was able to strategically position myself to watch my final sunset over the lake and still watch the US Open tennis final between Nadal and Medvedev. How do they expend that amount of energy for 5 HOURS!!! Unbelievable.
Equally unbelievable is how fast the summer went. I feel like I spent a lot of time just looking at the lake, which I l
ove. I enjoyed sharing the time with family and friends who came to visit, definitely giving me the feeling of being in vacation mode. And the whole experience of being “a boater” was fun.
From the first time taking the boat out as Captain (no hat required) and being unsure but thinking what’s the worst that can happen, and then feeling more and more comfortable each time, to the point where I actually considered taking the boat out, alone, on a beautiful day. I didn’t, because that would just be silly. (and stupid.) But I must thank my friends for their patience, help, and support in my learning. At the end of the summer, I am able to say that I am comfortable and confident with the boat, thanks to them.
Running either a flat route or hills followed by a swim in the pool or lake (I chose lake every time) is a great way to follow coffee on the balcony, watching for the blue heron on the dock or loons out the lake. Patience required.
And having discovered Villa Conti Winery and Restaurant last year, I was happy to return and take every visitor to have an authentic Italian experience in the countryside, only a fifteen-minute drive from Golden Beach Resort. I teased Tommaso and Bambi one day that they were my kitchen!
Leaving tomorrow, I have the same nostalgic feeling I always have when leaving somewhere where I have made friends and established a routine. I have to remind myself that just this year, I have gone through this same feeling leaving Vietnam after 2 months and leaving Kerala after 5 weeks. They still feel like home, and I still feel like I left family behind. That’s the power of the volunteering experience that I shared with them.
As a side note, one of the consequences of traveling as I do is having an ongoing connection with people around the world. For example, the current situation in Kashmir affects me because I know people whose families now have no money and no food. And the same for Kerala, where flooding is a threat to people who I feel are like family to me.
And tomorrow the worst that I can expect is bad traffic on the 401, and who cares, I am stopping to visit a friend for coffee en route.
And then, in a week, off to Europe!! And hopefully back to wearing flips flops every day again!
