Neither of us were ready to leave Britt’s. I could live there forever, literally
forever, but it was time to move on.
So often we find ourselves wanting to stay with the people we go to
visit. It’s never easy to leave new family and dear old friends, but the
adventure must go on. Today we
were making our way towards Pewaukee where we planned to surprise our friends
from Venice, CA, Sara and Whaka, with a visit. They thought we were coming tomorrow – so did we. Sara and Whaka were staying with her
family, who live over the bait shop they own, on the lake for the summer, where
they were building a business teaching various forms of somewhat alternative
yoga--acro, arial, and even paddle board yoga! I’ve flown (acro) before, but
got to experience arial yoga for the first time in a class Sara taught for free
on the night of our arrival. What
fun!
In the morning, as I promised last night, I whipped up a
batch of acorn meal pancakes for the whole family before we went out to the
lake for our first paddle board session with Whaka. The route: 5.5 miles from one side of the lake to the other,
which seemed like a lot to Andre and I what were we to know. Sara dropped us
off and we hopped on our boards after a 5-minute lesson. I was fully prepared to fall in. It couldn’t be nearly as bad as the
“wash machine” waves I’m used to surfing in Santa Monica. And the water wasn’t nearly as cold as
the Pacific.
Things started out great. We had a nice strong tailwind, the sun was out, I wasn’t
cold at all. Then, we decided to make a little stopover at the sandbar (an
actual bar with a coffee shop upstairs that looked more like a bar than a
coffee shop except for the pastries) for a shot of tequila and a beer. Whaka flew the staff – the look on the
male bartender’s face when he saw the female bartender doing acroyoga with him
was priceless. Not long after,
Whaka flew him, too. Everyone was
having a great time. We ordered another round of beers and some snacks before
saying goodbye to our new friends. I advertised for Sara’s yoga classes just
before walking outside. The wind
seemed to have picked up, but that was probably because the tailwinds that
helped ease the long paddle home had turned into headwinds. I got on my board and paddled with all
my might, but was going no where, fast.
Actually, I’m pretty sure I was moving backwards! The guys were out of sight, I was
tipsy, tired, and struggling. I
got down onto my knees and cried (whimpered is probably more accurate, but
there might have been some real tears when I squinted hard enough). After a few minutes, I laughed at
myself, then started paddling again.
Eventually, I caught up with the guys who had pulled over to wait for me
and we all took a break. Whaka
said the hard part was over; we’d have a tailwind again for the remainder of
our ride home, which would take about 30 minutes (that meant 45 for me, at
least). As I made my way back to
the bait shop, I watched the trees bending in the wind and the leaves trembling
like little cymbals on a tambourine.
All was right in the universe again.
When we arrived home, Whaka already had a big pot of chili
cooking on the stove, and it was almost ready. As usual, we didn’t want to leave. We had so much fun visiting with Sherrie and Greg, John and
Loui, new friends who we hope to see again, and Sara, Whaka, and Tahi who we
know we’ll see again in Venice when we get back. Something (just another something) to look forward to!
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