June 12, 2006 With the Moon Shining All Around

Sometimes you just need to go canoeing through the swamp. Saturday was one of those days for us. On our drive there, we passed many giant black grasshoppers crossing the road. This alarmed me and indicated that we were crossing over into some Other Place where exist such frightful creatures. Then we passed the bottom half of an alligator carcass on the side of the road. That made me think, "Huh. I wonder where the top half is." I mean, really. Let's just get the alligator talk out of the way. There were alligators. In the water. Right next to us. One of them swam very, very close to our canoe. My boyfriend could have tapped it on the head had he extended his paddle. I was paralyzed. The rest of the group just stopped and stared. None seemed concerned. They seem to harbor the belief that alligators are afraid of us. Okay. I can see why. What? No. I had to just pretend that they weren't there. Until the leader of our trip shined a bright spotlight out on the water once the sun went down and all we could see in the darkness were the millions of bugs hovering over the water and the glowing red eyeballs of alligators peeking out from the surface. It was sort of amazing to row through the water as dusk fell. We stopped and relaxed in our canoes and ate dinner -- sandwiches and fig newtons and white chocolate-covered pretzels. Once it got dark, I was like, "Excuse me, but it is dark." But somehow the moonlight was enough for us to see where we were going. We paddled in both open water and snaking, narrow bayous where we had to navigate around trees and branches and each other. It was quiet and peaceful except for the crickets and bullfrogs and one obnoxiously loquacious kayaker whom I sometimes wanted to brain with my paddle. Near the end of the night, we stopped and just let ourselves drift in silence in an open area and stared at the moon and listened to the night sounds. I thought about how amazed I was by the power of Deep Woods Off as I only felt one bite on the bottom of my foot. I hoped we would not be capsized by an alligator. I thought about how much love I felt for my boyfriend in that moment and how safe I felt knowing he was steering us from the stern. It was a beautful night. More pictures here. About this time in ... 2004: 6/11: Water, water everywhere. I just made the sign of the cross about ten times in thanks that this was all happening outside and not inside. 2003: 6/12: It was kind of funny watching my mom stand up and high-five people and announce things like, "That pitch looked a little low to me!" and "That's my favorite player because he has Mickey Mantle's number!" get notified. journal archives © Copyright 2006 elb