Boats

A few days ago, I was driving home and I received a phone call from an old friend. She asked me if I would like to go with her and a few of our other friends out to the local lake. Apparently, her brother had purchased a boat, and even though the wind was blowing 30+ miles per hour, I answered in the only way I knew how with my friends.

Of course.

Well, the water was freezing, tubing was kind of a nightmare in the wind, and we lost a window and a pair of sunglasses. But, we laughed more than we had in a long time, sang water related songs, and told stories of our past together that we thought had been buried in the murky water of the lake. As we sat on the water, I looked at my friend, now owner of a boat, and he looked at me. The words spilled out of both of us before we could stop them.

"This is really weird."

It's funny how some people spend their whole lives trying to run from becoming their parents. I'm not saying that my friends and I do or do not want to become our parents, but in that moment, it seemed as though we were on and eerie path of familiarity. You see, a few years ago, we were all children, riding on a boat with our parents. I can remember watching our families laughing on the boat, talking about everything and nothing at the same time.

I was back on that old boat, it seemed.

After a moment of hesitation, I laughed at our coincidental comment. He smiled brightly before following up with, "Who would've thought we'd be here? Look at us...we're adults."I shook my head and looked around for a moment. The old lake was the same as I had always remembered it; I watched my friend turn the boat and take off through the water.

Just like his dad used to.

I can remember my friends and I saying, "When I grow up, I will never do that like my parents." For the most part, we have all tried to stick to those decisions, but, we are still young. Our parents have given us more than we could have ever hoped for, and there is still so much for us to learn from them. We don't claim to have the wisdom of our parents, and you know, I don't think we really mind the moments in life when we realize and accept the one thing we thought we'd want to avoid.

Some part of us realizes, however big or small those parts may be...

Ah, hell. We're becoming our parents.