ALL I NEED TO KNOW, I LEARNED CANOEING

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!