notable events from the 3-day weekend at lake keowee in south carolina with my family:
* my 5-year old cousin, who refused to ride a jet-ski with anyone other than Her Dad (who was not there), consented to ride with me. i felt honored and trusted. after her first ride, she wanted another ride. and then, even after i flipped the thing while she was riding behind me, she still trusted me and wanted to ride with me again. and she still would not ride with anyone else. i’m not sure how i earned this sacred trust, but i’ll take it.
* the dog puked in my car on the way to the lake. poor baby, i felt so sorry for him. on the way home, he puked three times. i began to feel a little less sorry for him.
(thank you, lance, for cleaning up that mess.)
* i learned that i will never understand stereo equipment. i cannot hook up a dvd player and/or receiver to a tv with any good results.
* i attained a severe sunburn on the tops of my feet. and on my legs above the knees, but that is tolerable. the burn on the feet superbly sucks, because all shoes rub them in a discomfortable manner.
* my grandmother asked me point-blank if i believed that Jesus was my savior. this was pretty traumatic - my entire family is of the fanatical fundamentalist sect (as in, the world really is only 4000 years old), and it is simply not acceptable to believe differently. i have spent 10 years of my life just trying to avoid talking about it. because there is no middle ground. there is no agree to disagree. there is only “you must believe this or else you will burn in hell forever and won’t be in heaven with us”. since my parents have already heard the disappointing news, i saw no need to lie to the family matriarch. in return for my honesty, i received a sermon, with the requisite “you will be cast away to burn in hell” and finally was able to extract myself and run away. i avoided her the rest of the weekend.
* my mother cried when it was time for me & my two brothers to leave sunday afternoon. no matter how much time we spend, it’s never enough. all she can see is the time we don’t choose to spend with her. i wish she could rejoice that she has three independent children with happy lives and good relationships, who all 3 love their parents and bother to take time off work to come home and spend time with her. but i think the part about 2/3 of us burning in hell forever always overwhelms her during goodbyes.
despite the depressing nature of the final two points, it really was a fun weekend with lots of downtime and quality time with family and love and laughter and lots of water sports and splashing and stories and bonding.
