Welcome to another week of travel. We’re in Los Angeles! We got here on Saturday, we’ve had a meal with my sister and we’re wearing lots of sunscreen.
I am not a particularly adventurous person.
If you know me at all, you’re not surprised by this statement. I like a plan, I like to know what’s going to happen. Uncertainty makes me anxious. And I hate having to ask someone where to go or what to do; I hate *looking* like I don’t know what’s going on.
When we decided to kayak with my sister-in-law Kailey and my niece Callie in Morro Bay, we had a plan: meet up at 8:15 to be on the water by 8:30, paddle around the bay a little, and come back, probably by 10:00. Easy.
First sign that I didn't really know what I was doing: I wore tennis shoes. It was cold! Also, I don’t own sporty sandals like Chacos, and it just didn't occur to me to wear flip-flops.
Kailey and Aaron helped me get in the kayak without getting my feet wet. Then Aaron got into the front seat and we were off, with Kailey on her paddleboard and Callie in a small solo kayak.
The bay was beautiful. The sun warmed us up immediately. We watched birds.
Callie, who’s 12, kept asking to go to the sand dunes, so she could get out of her boat and stand up. Kailey said no. She wanted to be back before the wind got too strong. It wasn’t in the plan.
But we made really good time getting to the end of the bay, and the wind wasn’t picking up at all, so finally Kailey agreed.
We got to the sand dunes and Callie jumped out immediately to stretch her legs. I thought, well I’m in tennis shoes and trying to keep my feet dry, and she’s only stretching, so I’ll just sit here. But then Aaron and Kailey got out, and Callie was begging me to join them. And now I felt weird sitting there, so I got out.
I stretched my legs, enjoyed the view, and wished I’d brought my sunscreen for reapplying.
Then Callie started climbing the sand dune, and suddenly Aaron and Kailey were following her up.
What? This wasn’t in the plan. Should I just let them crawl up and wait until they get back? I thought we were just standing and stretching!
Callie called out to me again. “Come on, Genie!” I had to make a choice—stubbornly stick to the plan in my head or go where the day (and the 12-year-old) was taking me. I gave up on clean feet and any sense of knowing what was going to happen next, and kicked off my shoes and socks.
They were already halfway up. And I don’t know if y’all have ever climbed one of these, but damn, it’s hard. It actually reminded me of a recurring theme in my dreams, where I’m walking up a hill that just gets steeper and steeper, until I’m crawling on my hands and knees, sliding back, never making it to the top.
But I did make it.
After we all did a few cartwheels (you guessed it, Callie’s idea), Aaron wanted to walk to the ocean. Because what had looked like just a sort of sandy hill from down in the bay was actually a half mile or more of rolling sands all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
It was past 10:00 am, we were on the dunes we’d said we weren’t going to—the plan was officially out the window. So, why the hell not? Let’s put our feet in the freezing cold Pacific.
When we finally returned to our boats, Callie started leaping down the dune. And I thought, why not? If I fall, it’s just a pile of sand.
So I jumped. I landed with the warm sand wrapping around my feet, and slid about another six inches before stopping. I did it again. Jump, slide. Jump, slide. I laughed. It was a small movement, but it was fun. And I hadn’t planned it.
Callie asked Aaron if he’d switch boats with her. She’d been using a small kayak really intended for white water rafting (the kid’s kayak was officially too small) and she’d had a hard time controlling it. Aaron said sure, he preferred boating alone. So this time, I took the front seat and Callie took the back, and we got going again.
As we took the lead, Aaron seemed to have trouble getting started. The wind and current kept turning him around. And suddenly, I looked back and saw that he was using his baseball cap to scoop water out of his boat. Not long after that, he yelled out.
“Y’all? I’m in. I’m in the bay now.”
We hurried to his rescue. Callie scooted over onto the paddleboard with her mom, and Aaron pulled himself up onto the kayak with me.
Now we just had to get this third boat back to shore.
It took a little while to figure out; we tried tying it to the tandem kayak, but the string broke. Ultimately, Aaron hung onto the sinking boat while I rowed for both of us. It was hard and my shoulders hurt, but we made it back to shore.
What I thought about later, though, was how calm Kailey was through the whole thing. She was not stressed by any of it. Aaron was in the water, so we needed to go help him out. The boat was not suitable for anyone to get back in, so we had to drag it. The string broke, so we had to try something else. With every new mishap, she calmly worked through the next option.
And maybe that doesn’t sound amazing to most people, but as someone with an anxious brain who likes certainty and plans, this situation was a prime panicking one for me.
I know for a fact (and I’m not proud of this), that if Aaron and I had been out by ourselves and this happened, I would’ve been anxious and scared, which would’ve led to frustration. I probably would’ve gotten snippy with him. I might’ve complained about how tired my arms were from rowing the weight of two adults and another boat.
But my sister-in-law set such a great example of just moving through it all. Even though it was hard, we were all still laughing. We had a good time. We’d run into a problem, but it was not a dangerous one, and there was no reason to let it ruin the whole day.
The whole morning was a reminder of how I’d like to move through the world, as much as I can. Plans are great, and often necessary, but so is the ability to throw them away and follow someone else’s lead.
When you have the chance to kick off your shoes, climb a sand dune, and do some really bad cartwheels, you should. You might have a little fun.
What else is going on? This week, we moved from Los Osos to LA, and we finally finished watching The Patient. I think that’s enough.
Sounds like so much fun!!!!
Sounds like so much fun!!!!