Where I Get Lost

What are your favorite memories? Take a minute to skim over your past life and think about your happiest moments. I have found myself doing this a lot lately. Talking with people and recalling old times.

Now that you have thought about those select few favorite memories I am sure you could tell me in detail everything about the moment or moments. Where it was, who you were with, what was going on.

My favorite moment lucky for me has been repeated many times. It happens a handful of times each year, each summer to be specific. Our summer cabin is located on a lake in Upstate New York... Evening is the best time to fish. I begin this memory by packing the old aluminum canoe with a few drinks, a couple fishing poles and my favorite paddle. I would then set off slowly toward the opposite end of the lake gently gliding on the glass like water. A few minutes into the paddle I am about at the mid way point of the lake and look across the lake to see the mirror like clarity of the state forest on the lake with the sun beaming on the beach and actual landscape. The sun is setting so only the side of the lake I am looking at is in the sun. It is still warm and the stickiness of the summer heat from hours before is on my skin. Small birds are starting to swoop down low to the water to catch all the little bugs near the waters surface. A few bats are a bit higher up. I find my favorite spots and settle in for a couple dozen casts. It doesn't matter if I catch a single fish; it's about being there in that particular moment. The world seems to go away. It is you among the lily pads, the occasional fish, your thoughts and God. Closer to dusk you can do a 360 look around at all the little cabins and cottages lighting up small campfires, other fishermen taking in the exact same experience, and every now and then a fish jump clear out of the water. The sounds are unlike anywhere else I have been... A owl hoots every now and again and you try to anticipate its next hoot but it is never correct. Small motors on fishing boats as they change locations. The many bullfrogs calling out to be noticed. The splash as my paddle slices into the still water and the reel as I retrieve my cast. When I am out on the water like this in my canoe I get lost in my thoughts and dreams. This is my favorite memory.