Jumping Into Life...with a Plan

Fireworks from the Water

or 

Jumping Into Life...With a Plan 

If you follow my blog, you know that Mike and I live on a lake in Florida. Last week I posted a story about how we went out to eat at a local restaurant…traveling there by boat. What fun. 

 

Mike and I often talk about how this time in our lives is turning out to be unexpectedly wonderful. It is a period of time crowned with a love neither of us expected. 

 

Like so many others this past week, we geared up for the big Fourth of July celebrations. That often means food, fun, and family. But it always means FIREWORKS. 

 

Our new community puts on a fantastic fireworks display. On our lake. We went to it by boat. Us and at least 150 other boaters. 

 

Every kind of boat was there. We were in our bay boat. There were air boats, fishing boats, pontoon boats, ski boats, jon boats, and jet skis. There were boats with big motors, medium motors, and even some with small electric trolling motors.

 

It was light when we left our dock. The fireworks were scheduled for 9:15pm. We took bottles of cold Gatorade and water. We chose a place in the middle of the lake and weighed anchor, listening to music and people watching as a variety of boats overflowing with people gathered nearby.

 

Fireworks on the Lake

At quarter after nine…on the dot… fireworks lit the night sky. I’m not sure exactly how long the display lasted, but it was one of the longest I’ve ever witnessed. Exciting and beautiful…and then it was over. 

 

The Grand Finale...
and then it was Over...

And dark.

 

The Tsala-Apopka pool of lakes cover more than 8500 acres. Yet, never once was I worried we wouldn’t make it home through the dark night.

 

It could have been fearful. You see, traveling by boat isn’t like being on a well-lit road. Boats don’t exactly have headlights and even if they did, staying the course could be rough. There were several other boats heading back in our direction. All lit about as much as we were. All feeling their way through the dark night and cold water. 

 

Fortunately, we had already made a plan to find our way home. Mike navigated his way out of Lake Henderson through a channel leading past Estate Point with ease. Then we were back out in the deeper water of Tsala-Apopka Lake, our part of the chain of lakes. In the darkness, we could make out the entry to the cove where we ate last week and the stand of Cypress trees leading to the cove where our house is nestled among the trees.

 

The Garmin on the boat wasn’t tracking as we expected, but my iPhone knew we were in a boat and offered a map leading back to my “parked car.” It was an adventure. And fun. 

 

Isn’t that the way of life? We tend to “jump into” life experiences or run after something interesting with no plan or thought as to how it will impact us later. Sometimes we are being adventurous. Sometimes we’re simply being foolish.  

 

Fortunately, Mike and I had a plan. And a backup plan. We traveled cautiously. We used our resources. 

 

And, best of all, we had a wonderful time.

 

By the way, if you missed our trip to the Cove restaurant, you can go back and read about it by clicking HERE.