Widow's Voice

Trying to Have a Summer

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A view from a Kayak on a lake in summer

I’ve been desperately trying to have a summer while dealing with a cavalcade of problems on many fronts.

My attempt to get out and relax in nature this past Sunday pretty much sums it up. Here’s what happened …

Saturday night I got my inflatable kayak out. It lives in a large bag. I opened the bag to make sure everything was in there. I think something distracted me and I went back in the house, then went back into the garage and put the bag, my life jacket and my oars into the truck of my mom’s car. By the way, I was borrowing my mom’s car because the Jeep has a rocker arm that’s going out and I’m trying to drive it as minimally as possible before the repair shop can get me in on June 27th.

Sunday morning I get up, make breakfast and then since I already had everything in the car, just grabbed my keys, sunglasses, stray sun hat and got in the car to go to the reservoir where it’s nice, calm, place to kayak.

The drive takes about 25 minutes. About 6 minutes into the drive, the check engine light comes on in the car. What are the odds of a car that only has 49k miles on it having a problem worthy of the check engine light? Apparently right now in my life, high.

I take a deep breath, note that the car engine does not seem to be falling out or making any weird noises, so I drive on, determined to “have a good time”.

I get to the reservoir, pop the trunk, start taking the kayak out and unfolding it in the parking lot to inflate. I go to grab the pump. I’m staring into the trunk. I start rooting around in the bag. No pump. Somehow, in this timeline of my life, the pump remained at home.

I calmly roll the kayak back up, put it the trunk. Close the trunk. Get back in the car. Turn it on. Start to drive away from the reservoir and back home.

On the way home, I figured I might as well stop at Auto Zone and have them scan the engine code. I find out it’s the throttle position sensor. Not a major repair, so that was a small relief.

Make the drive back home. Open the garage door. Immediately see the large pump inexplicably laying on the floor as if the hand of a mischievous goblin plucked it out of the bag when I wasn’t looking and before I put it in the truck the night before. I take another deep breath, grab it, get back in the car and start the drive back to the reservoir.

This time I get out of the car and start getting everything out again. Somehow manage to cut my hand on what, I have no idea. Found a band aid in the glove box. Begin pumping the kayak up. Get my life jacket on. Grab my hat. Grab the oars and carry everything to the boat ramp. By this time it’s close to 2pm already.

So for about 40 minutes I leisurely tooled around the lake, trying my best to enjoy myself. I’m about in the middle of the lake when I notice that the sides of the kayak seem to be a little “squishy”. I check the bottom and that still seems solidly filled with air, but those sides and the top are definitely squishy.

Then I remember that last season, I had lost the screw in plug for the sides and top and bought an unbranded one at the sporting goods shop. I reach around and check it and it seems like it’s in there tight. So it’s either not really, or there’s some pin hole leak somewhere. By this point, I’m just done. I paddle my slowly deflating kayak to the boat ramp, get out of the water and lug everything back to the car.

I tried driving around to the other side of where there are picnic tables, but they were all full. I ended up just sitting on a large rock by the water’s edge for awhile contemplate everything going wrong for about 20 minutes before heading home again.

I still have to fully check over the kayak of an actual leak, but I also researched my particular brand of kayak and what plug actually fits in there and apparently it does take a certain type. So I’ll have to pick one of those up. Just one more thing on the to-do list.

About Sherry Holub

I met my spouse, Mario, at UCLA School of Art in 1993. After graduating in 1995, I founded a small agency specializing in web and graphic design. Mario became my partner in the company in 1999. In 2002, we were married at the Costa Mesa, CA court house because neither of us wanted a big wedding ceremony (after already being together since 1995).

Mario was a highly talented artist, musician, illustrator and 3D Designer, but a tortured one. He was one of those gentle, creative souls who ended up burning twice as bright for half as long. Mario lost the battle with liver disease induced by alcoholism (almost exactly 6 months after he became sober) on 2/10/21.

I’m a long-time artist and writer with a background in photography who enjoys cooking, getting outdoors, staying young at heart, and sharing experiences to potentially help others. When it comes to writing, I’ve written both for fun and professionally over the years. Writing is also sometimes therapy for me and I don’t mind sharing my personal experiences with a wider audience.