It was a dark and stormy night.

The wind howled.

The rain pounded.

The human slept.

When morning light appeared I took a look outside to see how the lake looked.

What I noticed was an empty dock.

No red folding chairs.  But more importantly no red canoe.

So  I donned my raincoat and LL Bean boots and went out to take a look.

No canoe on the dock and nowhere in sight until I looked down to the left of the condos where the lake inlet is. And there it was. Bobbing and floating.   Upside down.  Sigh.

Why do these things always happen when Chris is gone?  Why?

I put out a plea on Nextdoor explaining that our canoe took a leap off our dock in the storm and I was not able to get it on my own.  Could someone help?

Nary a soul responded.  The morning drug on.

So I went out and looked again and tried to formulate a plan.  I had none.  

I was afraid it would drift out to the middle of the lake and then there was no way I could even think about how to retrieve it.

Then along came Jose – my neighbor who lives in Miami who just bought one of the condos recently.  He walked down to see where it was and said with unwavering confidence “oh we can do this”.

I was doubtful but I climbed aboard his open deck pontoon with a rope and basically did nothing the entire time.  He had already taken his motor off so he grabbed a kayak paddle and paddled.  I stood, or tried to, and offered encouragement.  Yes—that is one of my spiritual gifts.With canoe in sight Jose managed to maneuver the boat and nudge it along.  After several failed attempts to get it to the bank he decided the best thing would be to get it to his dock and then we could go from there.

I gave up taking pics because I finally had a job—I held the canoe alongside the pontoon while he paddled us to the dock.  Neighbors were yelling encouraging words.  Jose’s wife came and helped hold me and the pontoon while Jose manhandled the canoe out of the water.

It was a thing.  Believe me.

The canoe found its way back into our yard and I am letting Chris deal with it when he gets home.  Perhaps some ropes might be in order.

I am so grateful for good neighbors who are willing to help out.  I wish someone would have videoed us because I am sure it was pretty hysterical.  We were both a little damp, a little grubby but a lot of happy.

To top it off Jose caught his first fish from our lake when we turned the canoe over. Win win!