Less than twenty-four hours and I will be in Toronto. Less than forty-eight and I will see my family. Time really goes so fast and does not wait for anyone. That is why we should really enjoy the moment and live in it. Many says “You only live once”, but the truth is that we do not live once, we live everyday. That is the reason why we should be able to get rid of distractions and be in every single moment, because every single one of them will be gone forever. I can not believe that I already have to leave. These two weeks (a little bit more) feel like they flew away so fast.
Since the last night we talked about how good the bread is in Europe, Jim told the girls to bake some German bread for lunch. We did not have enough time to do that for lunch, so we settled for dinner. The girls prepared the bread while me and Jim finished with the final touches on the exterior of the little cabin we are building. I feel so accomplished when I look at it because I was there when there was nothing and I helped building it up. I can not imagine how raising a child could feel.
We left around 10am for a little goodbye adventure. We went to a new lake whose name I forgot. We had to load the canoes on the truck, so I was excited for the day. We reached the destination and we got into the boats. This time I was not in the slowest canoe for the first time. I always had to paddle Fran and Mo or Larry around, but this time I was with the Slee. Once I paddled with the other workawayers, but I admit I asked them to enjoy the moment and paddled by myself.
We started to navigate the lake at a really good speed. Jim was stiring for us, so we proceeded with no problems. At one point I wanted to ask where we were headed, but then I reminded myself that the destination is not as important as the trip. So I laid back and started rowing without thinking about the destination and when we would have gotten there. We talked about how cool the lakes become when Winter starts. They would all freeze and people would play hockey or ice skate on them. It is a really cool thing to do and the images from movies and TV series started to come up in my mind.
After a relatively short time we reached an island. We landed there and we explored it. We found lots of mini blubs and we all ate them. Blueberries are a good source of antioxidants. This substance really help again the aging and stress factors of our cells.
We also found two animal bones, which meant that there were pretty big animals on the island. Jim also found a spot hit by a lightning bolt. The grass around it was black and dry and Verena found the exact spot where the tree was before getting fire.
Into the woods there was a path, so we took it to explore the island a little bit more. We arrived at this place overhanging directly into the water. It was so cool because we were actually on one side of a river splitting the island into a “u” letter. And on the other side there was a really tall wall of rocks that was sending the sound back, creating a cool echo effect. We shouted so much for fun and I quoted the Grinch movie to make everyone laugh.
On the other side there was a spot fifteen feet high (about three meters) where people would jump from. So we decided to go back and paddle over there to jump from that rock. Doing something you are afraid of really helps with overcoming that same fear. I jumped twice from the bridge at the hidden lake that I was not afraid of jumping from that higher spot. The only problem was that there was no path to reach it, so I had to improvise. The rock was a little bit slanting downwards, so it made us feel a little bit insecure. Moreover, on the other side of the river we could see the rocks so we all wondered how deep the water was. We were afraid of hitting something after the jump. I shut all those thoughts in my head and just jumped. That very moment when you are falling used to scare me so much, but now it just comes and goes so fast I do not even live it fully. I admit that I wanted to dive and do a front-flip, but I was not that confident in my diving skills and was a little bit afraid of getting hurt. I mean, if you splash in the water from a three meters height you will feel a lot of pain.
The girls needed more time to jump. They climbed up faster than me, but then stayed so much on the rock, afraid of jumping. I swam to the improvised shore where Asher was resting with the canoes. Jumping from the rock was not worth the climb, but I decided to go again to help the girls find the courage to jump. When I reached the shore, Asher said the cutest thing ever. He told me that we were friends now and asked if I would have stayed all summer long. I replied that unfortunately I would have had to leave soon, and he told me that I should not leave since friends do not do that. My heart melted and I felt so bad. If there was a moment when I thought about ditching my family it was that very moment.
I do not really remember what I did to get out from that conversation. Maybe I told him I would play with him later, maybe I did the monkey again. But the girls were not jumping, so I went ahead and climbed up again.
Laila was the second to jump. As usual she shouted before even jumping. It is her way to cope with the anxiety of jumping from a high standing. Alyssa needed to close her eyes and convince herself that she was not that high. After a while she jumped and her shout was really funny. Verena was the only one still stuck up there with me. She was afraid of hitting the wall while jumping, but we told her that by gravity she would have fallen further. Obviously, knowing is not really helpful when your mind is set on something else. Since she was not going to jump, I jumped again and Jim came up with a cool idea. He wanted to film me jumping but from below.
Guess what, I climbed up again a third time. Verena was still afraid of jumping, so I went ahead of her. I was a little bit scared of hitting the canoe in honesty. But I did my best to jump as far as I could and the result was that we got a really cool shot of me jumping in the water. Jim could catch every single moment by following me in the air with the camera.
Verena finally found the courage and jumped too. After that, she climbed up again and jumped again. It was brave of her and I told her that I really like that kind of attitude.
Asher showed us how he swims without the life jacket. At one point though he drank a little bit, so he started to act a little bit upset. To lighten up his mood, I made the monkey and jumped into the water. He thought it was so funny and forgot about how upset he was.
We jumped back into the canoe because we said we would have been back at the camp by 1pm at the latest, but it was already 1.20pm. We raced to the dock and the Germans almost got us. But they put all their-selves into rowing, while we would just go fast thanks to Jim’s skills in stiring a rowing.
We went back and had lunch. The girls then went on to finish the bread while me and Jim went to the cabin to work on some small details. Jim did not want me to work my last day, but I told him “Get lost” in the same way he does with me. He enjoyed it and laughed. We got the job done in one hour, but I realized how rusty and out of shape I was with the hammer after going so long without using it.
I headed back to the activity building for a snack before packing my stuff and met the girls picking up the goose poop. There was goose poop everywhere it was almost annoying. I do not know how but I avoided stepping on goose poop up to that moment. I was hoping that I could go on like that.
I packed my stuff and felt a little bit sad. I wanted to take a nap, but I would have had a lot of time on the bus to sleep. So I went out with the big luggage already ready. Everyone was in the office writing letters. One for every workawayer including Laila (who has an undefined date of leaving) and one for Anne’s birthday. It was so hard for me to write something, so I just went on with the annoying and loud Italian guy kind of vibe. On Verena’s letter I wrote the German words she taught me; on Annika’s I wrote that I will get angry if I invite her and she does not come to my wedding (she was the one who asked me to invite her); on Laila’s I wrote “we always meet people twice, so be ready to get annoyed again!”. It was a funny way to make them remember me.
The people went to the beach to swim, but I stayed with Jim to prepare a slideshow of pictures to show during dinner. He was there to cook Italian food for my last supper, so he had a little spoiler of the songs I chose.
When everyone got back for dinner I played a lot with Asher. We did one of his favorite thing: horsey ride. It is cool because we came up with different signs so that he can drive me without any need to speak. So one hand squeeze would mean to turn in the direction of the squeezed hand; two hands squeeze would mean to accelerate; intermittent squeezes would mean to go backwards; finally, pulling my hands up would mean to jump. We did horsey ride to chase the geese away from our field. It was tiring, but I really came to love Asher so for me it was a precious time that I could spend with him. He is really a cool kid. It is on him, and that is true. But it is also due to the loving and patient way Jim and Alyssa are raising him. They are so constant and loving that they should write a book on how to be as good as a parent one can be.
During dinner we watched the pictures and recalled the memories. It felt like forever since I arrived, but yet I stayed just for sixteen days. My slideshow was 759 pictures long, a whole fourteen minutes of pictures and memories. The people wanted to watch the videos too, so we watched many of the videos I filmed including the one where Fran farts in the middle of the flowers field.
After supper Don, Donna and Darwin arrived and we all sang “Happy Birthday” to Anne. Since it was her birthday, I sang “When you say nothing at all” because I knew it was one of her favorite songs. Fran gave her an instant pot as a gift and Anne loved it.
Before Asher had to go to sleep I played with him again. All of our games. He left without complaining and I think that the way he handled the situation was really cool. I mean, we knew he was sad because I was leaving. He knew he could behave upset and sad. But he was as bright as ever and acted so mature for his short four years lived on this Earth. More mature than many adult people.
Darwin actually joined us while we were doing horsey ride. He had fun by chasing after us. He is a fourteen years old guy with autism and I spent the hour after Asher left with him. We talked about Hulk and his sneaky farts during class hours. There were also the guys from cabin six who were trying so hard to get Verena and Annika to go to their campfire. But even if I could have talked about football and American football with them, I decided to stay with Darwin. So many times we leave the others behind because we want the cool stuff. But in my opinion is the love stuff that makes us better and gives us a chance to grow as human beings.
When Don and Donna got their haircut from Anne, they left with Darwin. The guys invited Annika and Verena again, but we told them that we already had plans for my last night at the camp. We actually wanted to go and watch the stars from the roof of the little cabin we built. But the night was not a good one to watch stars, so we ended up going again to Jim’s cabin to have another good and motivational conversation with the Slee.
Alyssa talked about how she had Asher at home. So many things happen in the hospital just to speed up the delivery, without any concern for the mom and her baby. The girls asked me if I was being a little bit embarassed, but honestly I was not. Actually I was interested and took mental notes of what they were saying. I could feel Annika liked the camp, Jim, Alyssa and everyone. But I could also feel how much Verena was feeling a little bit different from the rest of us because she did not share everything we were saying. We talked about it and I hope her insecurities went away.
At 11pm Jim kicked us out of the cabin in a subtle and funny way that got less subtle as we stretched our stay. Finally we went out, but to make up for missing the stars watch, we all decided to meet up at 6am at the beach to watch the sunrise together.
With everything set, I went to my trailer for one last night.
Godyl Go! 