Shipwrecked in Paradise
It started out so simple. A ride on a pontoon boat with some friends of ours — a laid back cruise on the lake, fishing and swimming in a quiet cove, eating watermelon, and drinking a few beers. And that’s exactly how it began. I held my hat on as our gracious host and captain, Tom, steered the boat out into the main channel of Lake of the Ozarks, pointing out various landmarks dotted along the shore. Over waves and around the curvy fingers that the lake is known for, he confidently navigated our vessel into a quiet cove. Mickey quickly cast his line with visions of Crappie fish fighting over the limp minnow on his hook. I immediately jumped overboard from the back side of the boat and swam in the murky but refreshing lake water. The two teenage boys in our crew joined me in the water as Tom rolled out a giant floating mat decorated with pink flamingos — a lily pad, which instantly became a wrestling mat on water.
A momma duck and her teenage ducklings swam up to the boat, looking for a few handouts. Linda, Tom’s co-captain obliged with some crackers. Because we all know what it’s like trying to feed growing kids. The duck family even took a turn on the lily pad to our amusement.
An hour or so later, our ship of waterlogged castaways decided to reel in the empty fishing lines, pull up anchor, and find some lunch at one of the many lake restaurants. Tom called Mickey over for a turn behind the wheel. With the wind blowing in his hair, Mickey steered the vessel around oncoming boats and winding his way around curves until our destination was in sight. We could see Paradise. Perfect.
Well, almost. When Mickey turned the wheel in the direction of the dock at Paradise, the boat didn’t turn. Instead, as the steering wheel freely turned, the boat continued in the same direction, straight towards the bank. He cut the engine and with the help of the crew, we all began to troubleshoot. Tom got back behind the wheel and somehow got the boat to the dock without any steering.
So there we were, broke down in Paradise, or in pirate lingo, shipwrecked. We all knew what to do next. Do what Captain Jack Sparrow would do, go for a bottle of rum, or in our case, a few beers and margaritas. We ate some lunch and then contemplated how to proceed. There were eight of us. We talked about calling a land Uber, but none of us wanted to leave our fearless leader to an unknown fate, so we waited. After several dead end phone calls and a couple of hours, a red inflatable towboat appeared on the horizon. We were being rescued.
The charming towboat captain quickly hooked up to the pontoon as we all piled back in the boat and got comfortable for the ride. With lights flashing, the little boat pulled us over waves, a few threatening to toss us out, caused by wakes from boats speeding past us with sunglass clad passengers and pitiful looks about our bad luck. However, we were happy as kids at an amusement park, with nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the ride and the beautiful scenery.
When we safely arrived at our destination, the boat repair shop, it was after-hours and no one was in sight. After tying the pontoon off to the nearest dock, we said our goodbyes with admiration to our knight in shining armor, the tanned and muscular, smiling towboat captain. However, we only made it a few steps when a locked metal gate with a sign above that said “Private Dock. For Boat Owners Only”, stopped us in our tracks.
We quickly flagged down the towboat driver and told him our dilemma. He told us to jump in the raft and he would drop us off closer to shore. We all climbed in, looking akin to a boat of refugees.
In an empty parking lot, our sun-drenched, and tired crew sat on the curb and waited for two Ubers. When a minivan finally showed up, all eight of us piled in.
We will laugh and tell stories about this day for years. Life is like that. Even with our best laid plans, it unfolds in its own time and place. It knows something that we don’t. There are gifts in the unexpected, in not knowing, and in having to wait. This sudden gift of time allowed us to witness things we might not have noticed otherwise —watching a bikini clad young woman raise her hands in victory when she successfully drove her jet ski onto the dock ramp. Or watching the boys play a competitive game of Jenga, only to have a little girl’s hoola-hoop crash the blocks before a winner could be declared. And seeing a tiny girl with blue-eyes and long curly blond locks, defiantly climb up the stairs after her mother told her to stop. Noticing what’s happening around us is a gift that’s always available — people, in moments of joy, frustration, and testing boundaries. If everything had gone perfectly, we would have missed these moments.
We all have been gifted this one beautiful life, the one moment we are in at any given time, to manage our thoughts and experiences as we choose. Whether it’s pretending we are acting out a make believe episode of Gilligan’s Island, or a real-life adventure in being shipwrecked in Paradise.
