My hat = FUBAR

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale.....

out on Canyon Lake Saturday afternoon when a nasty storm hit us unawares...well we were aware, but we thought we had a little time before it was upon us....we were wrong. That storm blew in in seconds when we thought we had several minutes. We had waves crashing over the side of the boat, idiots cutting me off, and my two little girls were terrified. I was driving the boat back (we were about a mile from the house), my friend Matt was holding my 3 year old, my wife's 12 year old cousin was holding my 5 year old, and my wife and her friend Lee-Ann were on the bow, to balance the weight. At first everyone wanted to be in the back, but the weight was too great and I couldn't see over the bow.

Well we made it back to shore safely, but as my wife was getting off (while myself, Matt, and my father-in-law prepared to take the boat to the ramp to take it out) I asked her to take my hat with.....

it died. She crumpled it as she jumped into the water, and it was beyond repair this time. My son tried to kill it once, but I was able to get it back to its proper shape....not this time. RIP hat.

I am very sore today. I tried wake surfing Monday morning, and it was a blast. But I wrenched my knee while learning the proper way to get up. It's not normal. You lie in the water with your heels resting on the surfboard, then as you tell the driver to "hit it" you stand up. At first I was telling them to "hit it" (meaning to gun the throttle) and then tried to stand up....my knee couldn't handle the pressure of standing up against the drag of the boat....whereas when I stand as I'm telling them I'm ready, I'm already half out of the water when the boat takes off, therefore pulling me up the rest of the way, as opposed to dragging me.

After that it's really cool. I use the rope to pull myself into the boat's wake (about waist high) then once I'm ahead of the wake I toss the rope (someone on the boat reels it in) and I surf the wake for as long as I can. If the driver keeps making left turns, it's easy to stay in the wake. A lot of fun, but I did come away with a slightly sprained right knee.

Then, my wife drove the boat Monday afternoon, and pulled myself, Matt, and my father-in-law on a 3-seater tube. My head got bounced around so much that I have a serious case of whiplash today. Over the days I could feel my neck get progressively sore-er.

It didn't help that I went out twice for said punishment, only the 2nd time around my father-in-law was the smart one and stayed ashore. By the end of the run I had no strength in my neck to lift my head off the tube.

Also, having my arms yanked for so long before getting up on the surfboard, and being whipped around on a tube has left me with sore arms and chest....and to top it off, the wakeboarding I did has left me with sore thighs.....

So I'm sore in the following parts:

Neck
Chest
Arms
thighs
knees

....and my hands and feet are sunburnt. I learned my lesson and kept a good amount of sunscreen on my head and face, and I wore my surf shirt.

All in all a very good weekend.

Now comes 2 weeks of loneliness and sadness. My wife leaves at 4 a.m. tomorrow for her trip north to see family (her's and mine). She comes back on the 26th.....that's almost 3 weeks! I just realized that! aarrgh! *sobs*

My oldest cried last night. She wants to go see Nanny (my mom) but she also wants me to come with. She said it's going to be so long until she sees me. I told her it wouldn't and that it'd go by fast......it won't.

I'm going to leave a card on my wife's steering wheel saying I miss her. And I'll need to talk to my kids at least once a day.

wow. writing those last 3 paragraphs has really depressed me. I feel a cry coming on one of these nights. I bet it comes tomorrow morning.