I saw a post on Facebook recently
from my brother who was in Switzerland at the Montreux Jazz Festival. It was a dream of his to attend the event and
could only have been made better if he was on stage playing drums with his
band. But still, in the picture, he was
smiling ear to ear thrilled to finally be where all the jazz legends he admired
had played.
This made me think of my ‘to-do’
list and what was still on it. The first
thing that came to mind was crafting a fourteen-foot birch bark canoe. There’s something about building a boat from
natural elements that speaks to my soul. Like giving the tree a second life by
transforming it; bringing the power in my hands, mind and heart together to
create functioning art; and then there’s the return to the water and the perfect
harmony you’d feel, on bended knee, in reverence to all that went into building
it.
My first memories of canoeing were
at summer camp as a seven year-old, and I still have the paddle bought with
tuck money so long ago. I remember watching the NFB films ‘Paddle to the Sea’
and ‘Song of the Paddle’ in elementary school and later watching John and Janet
Foster’s canoe adventures on CBC.
Something inside me just comes alive when I watch canoeing. It’s as if the spruce root, used to lash bark
canoes together, is intertwined with my DNA.
It’s not surprising, I suppose, that
the man I married also loves canoeing.
In fact our first date was filled with Algonquin stories, our honeymoon
was on its McIntosh Lake, and my wedding gift to him was a sixteen-foot cedar
strip.
We’ve taken the kids and their
friends to the park many times over the years and have lots of stories that
keep us smiling with pride and comradery.
Last week, taking our two seven year-old grandsons on their first
overnight trip, was pure joy. Their
excitement to be out with us powered the boats forward more so than did their
paddles, and that worked just fine by us.
They helped set up the tent, collect wood and pine needles for the fire,
and even tried spear fishing – a first on one of our trips.
Over the years we’ve seen the Northern
Lights, turned the river bend to face moose, braved three-foot stormy waves, skinny-dipped
at sunset, suffered with bronchitis and lost shoes, been starved and stuffed,
and been woken up by seventeen loons yodeling on our lake.
So after fifty years of paddling,
what have I learned? Well, I’ve come to know
how important appreciation is. I
appreciate what the canoe can and cannot do and what I can and cannot do and
how our two talents work so well together.
I appreciate the power of nature and how I can work with it to have some
pretty awesome adventures. And I
appreciate how privileged I am to be able to walk out my door and paddle three
seasons of the year.
I’ve also learned about enthusiasm
and what can be accomplish with an openhearted approach to the unknown around
the bend.
And I’ve learned about the
importance of effort, for without it, the canoe would stay on the dock and I’d
never know what it is to be truly alive.
If I had to sum it up, I’d say: Sometimes
the canoe carries the paddler, and sometimes the paddler carries the canoe;
together they can happily go anywhere! What better symbol for a soulful way to
live could you find?
Will I ever make my own bark canoe? Well I’ve been to many parts of the world,
felt deep love, laughed till I’ve cried, and made music with my
grandchildren. With appreciation,
enthusiasm and effort, I’d say, I can accomplish anything!
