My Vermont Experience: The Canoe Trip

Six summers ago, a large portion of my extended family came together for a grand celebration. We were commemorating the Mitchell family’s 50th year in Charlotte, Vermont. 50 years earlier, my grandfather had bought and helped build a lovely wooden vacation home along the shore of Lake Champlain. Since the acquisition, a summer has not passed without my father visiting the lake and since my birth; a summer has not passed where I have failed to visit.
In June of 2009, my brother Boh and I and a handful of friends made the long drive to the summer house for a six day vacation. On the first night, our spirits were high and we decided to have a few drinks in celebration. We had a long, fun night and at 1:00 a.m., just as we were heading to bed, I suggested we take a late night canoe trip. Everyone instantly applauded the suggestion and we headed down to the dock. My brother and his two friends took one canoe and I took a second canoe with my friend. The moon was full or nearly full and as we began paddling farther out on the lake, everyone took their turn in congratulating me on a great idea. “Man this awesome, good call on the canoe trip Dmitch,” said my little brother. Minutes later, he was singing a different tune.
For no apparent reason, my brother’s canoe tipped and with a big splash, all three passengers were dumped into the cold, dark water, more than a half mile off shore. My canoe paddled to the rescue. We carefully pulled my brother and one of his friends into the canoe and since there was no more room, my brother’s second friend, James, was forced to stay in the water and hold onto the canoe as we slowly paddled in. By the time we reached shore, my brother’s water logged phone (which he had in his pocket) was broken, James had caught a cold, and we had lost a paddle. In addition, my friend and I had to head back on a two hour search and rescue mission to recover the overturned canoe. In hindsight, I guess the trip wasn’t such a great idea.