As you may know, Saturday evening was my date with John, a new guy I’d met through plentyoffish.com. I’d not had the best of luck with this website—I’d come across some real duds. There’s a lot to be said about a no-fee dating website, and I’d listened to the message loud and clear. For the past few months, I’d not checked in, but about a week ago, I’d gotten an email notification that someone had seen my profile on the website and found me interesting enough to send me a message. Curiosity always being my weakness, I signed in and read, then responded to the message from John. An engineer who lives close, he sounded interesting—totally not my type—but interesting nonetheless. What’s that saying in horse racing, when you bet on the horse no one thinks will win? The long shot? That’s me, which is why I stay away from the tracks, but I placed my bet and agreed to meet him Saturday for an afternoon/evening date.
John lives five minutes from the lake. He frequently kayaks in the lake and hikes the trails which circle the lake, and since I’ve always wanted to try kayaking, I jumped at the opportunity to go with someone experienced. He was gracious when I asked him about the weight limit (“There isn’t a restriction that I know of on the kayaks I have,” he replied), and patiently explained to me the ins and outs of kayaking, making sure my life jacket was on securely and was comfortable in my kayak. Could he tell that I was terrified, but excited at the thought of going out on the expanse of the lake? He later claimed that he never suspected. Only the fear of capsizing the kayak kept the trembling in my body from taking over.
Did I mention that I have a huge, enormous really, fear of deep water? You may be able to envision how I felt at the thought of being out in the middle of the lake—not hyperventilating, but close to it. I’m a good swimmer—not a strong or endurance swimmer, but a good swimmer who can keep her head until she reaches the shore, or the Coast Guard rescue boat, whichever comes first. Plus, I had on a life jacket. Still, like most who wear glasses, my greatest fear was the kayak tipping, dumping me in the middle of the lake and my glasses promptly sinking to the bottom. I’m not blind without them, but hey, that’s my fear (one of them, at least). The thought of capsizing my kayak and making a complete fool of myself never even entered into my mind.
So, there I was, trying not to tremble and capsize my kayak. The sun had crested and was beginning its descent, the wind was light and the water cool. The type of kayak I was in was very similar to this kayak . If you care to look at the link, you might notice the holes in the bottom. Yes, I said holes. See, this kayak is designed to be mainly used in the ocean, where the waves will come over the edge and into the kayak. To keep the kayak from filing with water, there are holes in the bottom and the back edge that allows the majority of the water to drain; however, there is a fair amount of water that remains in the bottom of the kayak. Initially, I have visions of my fat ass causing the kayak to fill with water and sink to the bottom of the lake, however, somehow I came to an understanding with The Law of Physics and the kayak and I came to an agreement and we all remained floating. I was sitting in an inch or two of water the entire time, but it actually worked to my advantage and kept any and all hot flashes at bay, as well as keeping me from sweating like a construction worker.
John and I paddled (kayaked?) around the lake and it was amazingly beautiful. Hallboy and I had been out in a canoe on several occasions and everything I wished was different about a canoe, I found in the kayak. (Mainly the ability to easily maneuver and not have to rely on another person for power or steering.) Never once did I capsize, and eventually I felt comfortable enough to remove my life jacket, which allowed me more freedom to move as I stroked. We spent about an hour on the lake (and my shoulders and upper arms protested every single moment of it), eventually gracefully coming ashore where I helped John load the kayaks and equipment back on the roof of his car. I paid close attention, because I feel such in love with kayaking that I now want to get my own. It was an experience that I want to do again and again and again. Some may scoff and say that it’s that new infatuation stage of the relationship, but I would disagree and say that, yes, I am in love with kayaking.
Oh, and John? He was okay, but the fact that I want to get my own kayak should tell you something. 
As a footnote, thank you to all the dopers that armed me with enough information and self confidence that I was finally able to try something I’d wanted to try for a long time, and was finally able not only to try it, but fall in love with it as well.
