(Ed note: I read this post by Cate Marvin on facebook and thought it too much fun not to share. Cate generously agreed to let me post it here. Cate is the author of three books of poems, the most recent of which is Oracle (Norton, 2015). She recently relocated from Maplewood, New Jersey, to Portland, Maine, and will serve as a visiting professor at Colby College during the academic year of 2016-2017.)
July 17, 2016 -- When I first started dating Joe Dupont and told my friends he ran a kayaking business (he takes people on sea kayak excursions on Casco Bay, from Peaks, an island off of Portland, Maine) I did not regard it as a virtue. It sounded cool, but the thought that I might one day be expected to go kayaking haunted me. I could only imagine the humiliation. My perfect girlfriend status would be instantly shot to hell.
All my life, I've been nonathletic. Make that anti-athletic. Throughout elementary, junior and high school, I was always the last picked for teams. I had poor coordination, no stamina, and I also did not give a shit. Over the years, I came to regard myself as weak and physically inept. I used to joke that I got most of my exercise from lifting a glass of wine. (STILL TRUE.)
So when I first told close friends like Erin Belieu about Joe's profession and they would say, "That's so cool! You can go kayaking!" I concluded that, sadly, they had failed to understand my most quintessential self: Not only do I not do outdoor sports, I do not do sports. Period. (And if you don't like it, you are welcome to go do your sports stuff and leave me the F alone with my books, thank you very much.)
To his credit, Joe never pressured me. But I knew the day would come. For you see, Joe had agreeably attended not just a few, but several poetry readings with me. He had already made noticeable efforts toward understanding my world and my profession. He read my poems. He even sat in on one of my classes. Early on, the extent of my reciprocity amounted to admiring how colorful his kayaks looked in his snow-filled backyard over winter break.
I came up to Peaks Island a little over a week ago, and my seven year old daughter Lucia and I aren’t just staying for the summer this time around. We have moved to Portland because Joe and I are getting married this coming October. The shit is real. Mention has been made not only of kayaking, but of camping, and – god help me – the possibility of a WHITE WATER RAFTING trip. It’s a wonder I can sleep at night.
Last summer, Joe took Lucia and me out in a double-kayak (all three of us in one boat). He was apparently surprised to discover I was nowhere as weak as I'd professed. I attributed the fact that this brief trip was uneventful, and even enjoyable (if only for the novelty), to Joe being in the kayak and preventing my total and complete demise on Casco Bay.
Then yesterday Joe suggested we spend some time in the afternoon paddling, mentioning oh so casually that I would be IN MY OWN BOAT. Frankly, there was no way I could figure out how to avoid this without being a total jerk. I can't say I was looking forward to it.
Here's the crazy thing: IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. It was beautiful on the water, and I found I could actually move the boat without any serious problem, and even felt comfortable (note: the conditions were exceedingly mild) . . . we paddled to Little Diamond Island, where we stopped for an hour. Lucia and I swam in the super cold and utterly clear water and pretended we were "Mommy Dolphin and Baby Dolphin," and that our home was a bunch of rocks covered with seaweed; we collected snails and tiny hermit crabs and placed them in shallow pools of sea water to study them beneath the sun. (When I asked Lucia what snails eat, she told me, "That's easy. They eat allergy off the ground.")
When we paddled back to Peaks, I was actually sorry the trip was over.
My point: Do this kayaking thing. ASAP. I honestly regret I didn't do it last summer. Instead I spent that July and August inside a very hot house cooking and folding laundry (and reading too, so it wasn't all bad) . . .
Attention Fellow Pale Weaklings: You too might enjoy this outdoor activity.*
That said, I can promise you I will never ski.
(ed note: The next time you visit Maine you can book a kayak trip by calling Joe Dupont at 207-420-0333. sdl)
cool post! Love that you got back on the water again!!
Posted by: James Dutreaux | October 08, 2016 at 01:11 AM