So, in 4 days from now I will once again journey away from home to the place I think I love more than home. Well, that week anyway and if a transporter is to ever be invented in my time, besides planes, trains and such, that is where I would go everyday. This year is my 13th consecutive year and still makes me giddy leading up to the trip, just like when I was young and counted down the days til Christmas when Santa comes to visit.
This year, the trip consists of myself, my parents, brother, my friend Doug, a few other couples from Albuquerque and a few families from Clovis, New Mexico. Our group is anywhere from 25-30 people this year. The first year I went to Table Rock there were 50 some New Mexicans!! Since then, the numbers and families have changed and evolved.
Table Rock Lake is a rather large lake in Missouri and also has a channel in Arkansas. We stay in the quiet town of Shell Knob that comes alive in the summers. One may call it a touristy town but I see it as home. The summer months are when the town makes its revenue but after the bountiful, colorful leaves have dropped, it is just lives with the townspeople.
My family packs up the truck and our boat Thursday evening and Friday morning before we pack in and jump on I-40 until we reach Oklahoma City where we decompress, relax and also get amped for the next week. After unloading our overnight bags and get situated, we pop beers and mix drinks that we enjoy pool side before walking to dinner in the hot humid climate of Oklahoma, nothing like the dry heat from back home. Our sweat and buzz leads us to act a bit wild at dinner, making jokes, telling stories from years past from our adventures. Like last year when Eric, a friend of the Clovis clan was tricked into eating a salted and sugared burger. Never, I mean never accept a challenge if you have left the table because we are more than likely going to prank you. And if you accept a challenge, there is no quitting!
The next morning, we pack up the trucks and our tummies with the continental breakfasts and hit the road to Missouri. It is only a few hours away and with each mile closer, I get giddy. I want to cry because I am so happy!! And excited for what the next week will bring.
The lake is blueish green looks incredible peaking between the lush hills. It only increases my excitement to get to our cabin, unpacked and on the water.
I think water has always brought me tranquility over the years of swimming and does the same now. I feel like a little kid just thinking about the lakeside. I have always loved it and have a hard time describing it. It has always been a place I get to escape to, a place where I don't wait for the next day or the next week but the next ten minutes. I feel more alive there in that week than most of the year. It sounds strange, I know, but I wish I could just stay there and slow down time and bottle up my feelings from there and bring them back home with me somehow.
I want the feeling of a great ski run or surfing in the afternoon sun, with music pumping out the speakers and hitting the trees or the shores all around. I want the peacefulness of napping in the sun, feeling the waves below slightly rocking the boat. I want to feel the love of my family and friends at dinner time and sitting on the swings in the evening looking over the lake, where the sun hides and the moon wakes up. I want the fun from the night of the 4th under the stars while fireworks shoot above us. I want all of these things that make me feel alive to make me love life more at home.
And yes, I digressed, a lot. Table Rock is me and I hope to never have to skip a year for work or because I will not be able to go. I want to go for my life so I get these same feelings and never have to grow up from this vacation.
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