Austin Adventures: Part 2

When my girls were home briefly, in January, I told Savannah that the only thing I wanted to do when I visited her and Lisa in Austin the next month was to sit on her couch and do nothing.

Simple.

Easy.

Yet...here I was: Rotating swiftly in a narrow water channel beneath the blue skies of Austin, shrieking with laughter with my daughters in a donut boat, of all things. 

Wasn't even on my Bucket List:  Captain a donut boat.

But...check.

We had woken up that morning with no clear plans.

And had, somehow, landed here.

God bless Texas where the life preservers, fire extinguishers, and first aid kits are casually pointed out, they have you take a picture of a map of the lake, make sure you have an inventory of alcohol, show you how to go forward and reverse in a small round boat before casting you off, waving, and shouting, "Good luck!" No red tape. No regulations. Alarmingly few rules. And. So. Much. Fun.

I, at first, questioned Savannah's decision to book us for an hour. Thirty minutes seemed more than reasonable to me. What if we got bored? I was ready to buy the boat before we had unraveled our way out of the harbor. Driving a round boat is as easy as it sounds. Savannah was happy to relinquish her steering duties to me after we'd crossed the small lake. I just wanted to spin. And spin. And spin. 

We spilled our drinks.

Laughed.

Loudly.

Smeared the complimentary chocolate-covered strawberries all over ourselves and the boat (A wonderful idea but not practical in execution...appreciated, nonetheless).

Laughed.

Sang along to Sydney's playlist (once she wrestled it off her Sleep Sonata channel).

We basked under the Austin sun...bobbed gently on the water like a child's bath-time tub toy...and just enjoyed ourselves and each other.

I had taken a circular route but I hadn't strayed too far from my original goal. I wasn't on a couch but, as I stared up at the brilliantly blue sky and slowly spun, I smiled as I did absolutely nothing.