Down The River

Twelve-year-old son Tim and I are having a FATHER-SON BONDING EXPERIENCE! Together with two other fathers and sons we are on an overnight river adventure, each pair of us in separate canoes, floating down the idyllic Michigan trout stream called the Au Sable. It is both wonderful and terrible. I am creating a disaster.

There are some complications. I’m afraid of any flowing water more than 6 inches deep. Neither Tim nor I have ever paddled a canoe before. Within five minutes our fellow campers are so far down the stream we can’t even see them. I don’t even know from which end of the canoe the control is supposed to come. The stream is swift. We ram the shore on the right. We move away, across the stream, and ram the shore on the left. Tim at the back of the canoe, dad in the middle, we end up going down the stream backward. We change positions and barely miss a fly fisherman in waders who, I’m grateful, was not able to exchange his fishing rod for another type of rod. Our cargo gets wet. We sweat. Blisters develop. We continue to careen from shore to shore.

Finally we spot our fellow travelers. They’ve set up the tent, have a fire going and believe it or not are enjoying before dinner drinks. Tim and I have traversed 4 times as much distance as they to reach the same destination.

We (or at least I) are complete failures. It is wonderful. Tim and I are learners together. We fail together, we reach our destination (if not our goal) together. We laugh. We celebrate.

Now Tim is an experienced hiker, camper, boater. He has hiked high in the Cascades, rafted down the Rio Grande, explored Death Valley. I just write memoirs and reflections and recall two of the most wonderful days of my life, canoeing down the Au Sable with my son.