Catskills I; Wade in The Water (JULY 2015, NY )
It was the 4th of July weekend of 2015, and we had flown into New York for a few days before moving on to Philadelphia. Sheinelle and Uche had moved in the opposite direction from Philly to New York, and Uche had graciously offered to host us for a few days before we moved on to the final destination.
Uche brought up the idea of heading out of town to the Catskills for the 4th of July holiday. We set out on Friday, the 3rd of July, with Uche, Kayin, Uche jnr, Clara, Keneil, my son, my heavily pregnant wife and me in Uche’s large SUV. We got to the mountain lodge sometime in the evening. It was fairly rusty from the outside and didn’t exactly look like something one would appreciate after flying a thousand miles. However, the warmth of unfamiliar surroundings, flowing streams and rustling leaves made the first night at the lodge worth it.
Early the next day, we got out of the lodge and headed to the campsites. There were multiple campsites with people from different parts of the country. Somewhere on the left side of the road, we found a lake park which had small boats for hire and also had kids’ activities to engage the kids. We all got life jackets and took turns getting ready for the boat rides. The boats were paddle boats that depended on someone sitting at the bow and another sitting at the stern.
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Uche and his friend went on the first ride. As I watched them with Uche jnr and Clara in the paddle boat, sitting calmly with miniature paddles enjoying themselves, I thought of my inability to swim if there was an emergency. But then, I saw the expectation on my son’s face as he waited his turn and expected his dad to get on the paddle boat with him.
When the boat came around. Uche’s friend got off, and Uche told me to get onboard. My son got in and we started paddling. Gradually, my fears gave way as I got the hang of the paddling instructions. It all felt like bliss the moment I managed to convince myself that the water was not so deep. We went to the outer edges of the lake where it fed into a larger body of water, but then we turned back.
It was a surreal moment with Uche and our kids on the boat, calmly parting the waters with the paddles. As we got to shore, Uche asked if I could swim, and I said ‘No.’ All of a sudden, it dawned on him that we had maybe taken a bit of a risk. He had made an assumption, and I went with the flow.
