Friday, April 13, 2007

Those Awkward Stages
It seems like just yesterday that the awkward stage of life referred to my early teen years when hormones and brain cells struggled to get along. Body parts grew at different rates, and graceful movement took concentration. It was, in essence, a 'tween' time, between childhood and something else I've never fully understood.
Flash ahead many years, and many other awkward stages have come and gone. There was the switch from child to adult (ha!). From single to married (I shall not take time to digress here). From student to professional (these are not necessarily in order...but now I do digress). And so on. None of these, however, have been as difficult to deal with as the one I face now: the hardest 'tween' state of all.
Now is the time in life when there are no more pool sessions and the Lake is cold enough to induce life-sucking reflexes if one's face is plunged into its cold waters. Now, or very soon, this will also entail another frustrating 'tween' phase: the deadly "bet you can't figure out how to dress comfortably" phase. Soon, those of us around here will face having to dress for water the temperature of liquid nitrogen while subjecting ourselves to global-warming level heat waves. Soon the paddlers around here will go to sea in little self contained sauna suits, work themselves up to delirium-producing internal temperatures and, then, have to decide if they will risk sudden cardiac arrest by rolling in the frigid soup in order to keep their cortex cells from frying.
So, tell me, when does life get easy?
Paddle safe...
DS

4 comments:

Michael said...

Last night in a Halifax pub listening to some local Celtic live music, I suddenly realised I wasn't in an awkward stage. It was around 11:30 and lasted almost an hour. Incredible feeling of 'flow' and grace! This morning, of course , it's back to that awkward stage... Few things last.

JohnB said...

". . .when does life get easy?" you want to know.

Not sure, but perhaps the nanosecond before death ???

Alex said...

Tuiliks bridge the gap for the rolling in the cold water and once the weather warms up, shorty dry tops mated with dry bibs do the trick!

DaveO said...

Although Alex and Ron have both spotted me in the pool this winter I am a certified chlorinephobe. Winter is for XC and telemark skiing and snowshoeing in my book. Last springs two inadvertent dips in Gitchee Gumee before tax day steered me toward a dry suit and its done the trick. Now if only there was a cure for the ice cream headache.....