Labor Day.

Went to bed too late. 

and woke up way too early.

Chris came home for the three day weekend. 

We saw Apollo 18, 

Cassie's kind of  movie.

It's just scary that all that alien stuff actually happened. 

Not. 

Labor day, 

yes it was very much laborious.

Today, with Chris and his friend Sean, we went to the famous Riverbend Park 

to kayak slash canoe. 

Chris and Sean were in the canoe and I was in the kayak. 

It was a beautiful morning, 

the sun rays were scattered among the trees, baby birds and alligators swimming around. 

It was picturesque. 

I didn't bring my camera, 

there's something wrong and it's too much of hassel to worry about on the water. 

Riverbend Park is my favorite part of the trip. 

Twisting in and out of the cypress tress, 

flying through the waterfall dams, 

nature, etc. 

When it opens up into the Loxahatchee however, 

everything begins to look the same.

Which can be very confusing to a single kayaker. 

In Riverbend, Chris and Sean had trouble maneuvering the canoe, 

but I was like a water moccasin, 

swerving in and out of the trees.

The roles reversed when the river opened up. 

I fell behind. 

Here's what I remember. 

I saw Chris and Sean turn the corner right by Jonathan Dickensen State Park.

I knew we still had a long way to go, 

so I tried to go faster. 

Not happening. 

Having been paddeling for almost five hours, 

my arms were going one steady pace:

slow.

When I got to that corner I looked up ahead and saw nothing but mangroves and water. 

I was sure my next move was a right turn,

so I paddled up ahead to what looked like one, but it turned out to be a dead end. 

Continued to the next right turn. 

Also a dead end. 

There was a left turn but I was sure I had to go right. 

Why? 

I have no idea. 

[looking back - DUH go left idiot!, 

but no - this is what I did] 

I turned around. 

Sure that I had missed the right turn because I wasn't paying close enough attention. 

Then I got really confused. 

Because everything looked the same. 

I was lost. 

I decided, 

I'm not going to be that idiot kid who gets lost kayaking and dies. 

So instead I was that idiot kid who got lost,

and went to the Jonathan Dickensen souvenir shop to use the phone to call padre to pick me up. 

Because said idiot kid also decided not bring his cell phone. 

How embarrassing.

I cleaned the kayak best I could, 

pulled it out of the water, 

brought it all the way to the street and waited. 

It must've been half an hour

when I see Chris running up the dock. 

"No. No. No. Chris!" 

It wouldn't be a big deal, 

but I knew they all had to leave to go back up to Gainesville at twelve. 

And my parents were having a barbeque. 

I was ruining everyone's day.

Apparently they had stopped and waited for me just up that one left turn. 

I'm a squib.

When I never showed, they looked and looked and then called Chris' dad to come on the boat. 

and then they found me. 

I wanted to just evaporate. 

or just go straight to laughing about this. 

And we did. 

No one thought it was as big a deal as I did.

We made it back. 

They left. 

I made it back. 

Cassie laughed at me. 

I laughed a little too. 

I swam. 

and then I fell into a thirteen hour coma. 

Welcome to my life.