I’m a little exhausted as I begin this blog. You see this past weekend we celebrated our annual Paul Lake family get together.

That celebration includes many activities, great food and a wide variety of beverages. Combining that with sunshine,  fresh air and much laughter several days of rest are required for our bodies to recover.

So while the unretired folks are toughing it out at work today I’m relaxing in my computer chair composing another blog that may get read by a couple dozen readers seeking meaningless trivia. 🙂

The family gathering together each August is always a great time but only one thing prevents me from being able to enjoy the festivities like the rest of the family.

I have never shared this fact with anyone before but I’ve decided to come out of the closet with it at this time.

You see I can’t swim! I almost drowned in the UMM college swimming pool taking my final swimming test for my physical education minor degree.

Many years ago I almost drowned in an Arizona swimming pool when I slipped off the floaty I was relaxing on and was preparing to go down for the third and final time when my courageous sister shouted, “Stand up!”

So I did and discovered I was in three feet of water!

Then there was that water slide in that Ashland, Wisconsin motel. I almost drowned several times there when I forgot to stand up in waste deep water.

I think it was the only time in the history of that water slide that the life guard was forced to throw out the life ring in an attempt to save a floundering old man. 🙁

So now you should understand why a long weekend at a lake strikes fear in this old guy’s  heart.

Every year I bring along a patched tractor tire inner tube and don my life jacket and relax on the gentle waves of the lake. I ignore the cat calls made by members of my family and concentrate on not slipping out of my inner tube.

Well this summer I thought enough was enough. I was determined to change things up a bit. I still did some floating and ignored my daughter’s threats to reshow the video of me trying to escape my inner tube from the previous summer.

They thought it was funny at the time and I feared I was drowning again as I clumsily tried to exit my inner tube. 🙁

This summer I brought along my fishing pole and tackle box and went fishing several times, without incident I might add!

A new water game had been added this year. Two poles were stuck in the lake sand in knee deep water. The eight foot poles were about thirty feet apart and on top of each pole sat a plastic bottle.

The idea was to throw a frisbee and attempt to knock the bottle off into the lake water. Points were scored if the bottle fell and another point was added if the frisbee fell in the lake too.

I was invited to play which made me happy. All the other players had to have a drink in one hand when they were playing but I think my age allowed me to play drink free. The family might have also feared if I was drinking I would get out of control and that would certainly provide a video for next year!

I discovered I was quite skilled at that game. In fact I and my partner were undefeated until I retired. Always quit when you are on top I have been told.

Games had become more a part of the weekend’s activities which meant I would have less chance to suffer water calamities that could be posted in future technology settings.

Then teams were formed for the bean bag tournament. I shocked myself with my bean bag tossing skill and I and my partner won although technically it was called by darkness with us in the lead.

Google didn’t get specific about what team wins when the sun goes down so I’m stating darkness is a win for the team that is ahead.

Hey, maybe I can’t swim but I’m on a roll with these shallow water and dry land contests! 🙂

Then someone dragged out an old beat up bag of Bocce Balls and teams were formed again.

My daughter Bonnie and I became partners which was somewhat emotional because it doesn’t seem that long ago that I was her junior high basketball coach.

We didn’t dwell on old memories of those long ago basketball years but if you are curious I’m sure she would love sharing memories with you about her excellence on the hard court. 🙂

In fact it’s quite possible she might have things to say about the adequacies or inadequacies of her old coach. 🙂

We jumped into a huge lead and it looked like we were going to win going away. But then other teams caught fire and the score tightened.

Now for you non Bocce Ball fans the game is very simple. A small white ball is tossed into the grass. It can be close or far. It can be on a flat terrain or on the side of a hill.

Each player has a larger ball that they toss at the small target ball. The team ball that gets closest to the target ball is the winner.

The final point scored was extraordinary as the small, white target ball rolled under a bush in a flower bed and disappeared from view.

I threw my ball blindly into the bushes and when we waded in and found the little white ball guess whose ball was laying right next to it?

Yep, it was meant to be. My ball gave us the winning point!

So while all the youngsters were starring in the middle of the very deep Paul Lake tubing, skiing and surfing I was floating in the shallows just waiting for my time to arrive and impress them how an old, gray- haired man still had a little bit of jock left in him. 🙂

I can’t wait until next August! 🙂

Until next time.