Anticipation

©Paul Anderson
Remember when you were a kid, and how it seemed to take forever for those special events to arrive?

Every year, weeks before we start our trip to Ross Lake Resort, the kids start asking "how soon", and "are the fish biting", "who can we invite?"

And they comment: "I'm jumping in the water as soon as we get there", "this year I'm going up to Lightening Creek", or "this year I'm swimming underwater at Ruby Creek", "this year I'm letting the waterfall hit me."

Several years ago there was an early fall storm, it uncharacteristically rained on our trip in and when we arrived at the cabin we could see it was snowing less than 500 feet above us.

Eight year old Mackenzie couldn't wait - she had been anticipating this moment for too long - she had to take the plunge in the rain and the cold.

And she did it, she swam out to the log boom and back.

All the adults sitting under the eaves of their cabins or at their dining tables playing cards, reading, planning the late afternoon fish, grinned, shook their heads and remembered when they would have done the same.

Mackenzie climbed out of the water, walked slowly into the bathroom and when she finally sat in her tub of warm water I heard a satisfied "aaahhhhhh!"

Anticipation complete.

The next day was sunny and 75 degrees.