A Good Paddling

I’m on my way to Thailand, again. This will likely be the last trip, which is both good, and bad. Good in that I won’t have any disruptions from my routine at home, and should be able to spend more time with my family and catch up with the routine work that gets puts aside while I travel. Bad in that I won’t get to see the friends that I have made there. I had just gotten through the flurry of activity that followed Hurricane Ike, and that surrounded the final post-production and premiere of my movie “Spirits Among Us.” That flurry of activity, plus the effort of negotiating my first distribution contract had me feeling like I needed a little R&R (relaxation and restoration). What I really needed was a good paddling.

So, I loaded the birthday gift my wife bought me (a kayak) onto my car, and took off for an afternoon of kayaking. I used to kayak or canoe on a regular basis, but those types of activities, like many other recreational activities had been put aside over the last several years to make room for more important activities. It is interesting that I typically think of recreational activities as just something you do that has no fundamental value, just a frivolous luxury. But, it actually re-creation, a kind of restoration that lets you get back to “who you are.”

It was not until I went without almost all forms of recreation for several years that I started realizing the value of them. I’m just now starting to schedule-in recreation as part of my “to do” list. If you have been keeping up with my blog, you know that if I don’t schedule it, I don’t do it. While the kayak and I glided down the waterway I could see God all around me in His creation. Everything was quiet, even my mind. Anyway, here a few photos of a mighty fine paddling I had last Saturday.