Dream Boat

Well, she's off. Debbie's new boat arrived Thursday and I haven't really seen her since. Of course, I expected that. This is her dream come true. She finally has a boat that's long enough, wide enough, deep enough, and powerful enough to go anywhere on the lake. It's a fishing boat, ordered to her specifications. That was an indulgence for both of us. We're the "take it off the lot" kind of people, not the "I want it with this and this and this" kind of people.

I don't know anyone who deserves a new boat more than Debbie. She has patiently made do with a boat that was technically too small for our lake and too old to be consistently reliable. Since she fishes alone most of the time it worried me, especially in January when it was 30 degrees. But she's good at maintaining motors and such so she just chugged along until we could see ourselves clear to buy her dream boat. That was the deal we made last summer. First we'd buy my jet ski, then we'd buy her boat.

Over the years we've owned boats and fished in various lakes around the state but living on the lake and walking to your boat is so different. We've owned leaky boats and boats with worn out motors that cost more to keep running than they were worth. We had a 10 foot aluminum boat and trolling motor that we would lift into the bed of Debbie's truck. We'd load an ice chest and everything we'd need for the day and drive an hour or more to fish for bream. Then we'd drive another hour or more back home, lift the boat out of the truck, unload and put away whatever we'd taken with us, clean the fish (if there were any), and fall into bed exhausted. It was fun but hard work and we were young and strong.

I like to fish sometimes. Debbie loves to fish all the time. I just wish I could describe how it feels to watch her glide off into the sunrise, standing behind the center console of her beautiful 18 foot long aluminum boat with the 90 horsepower Yamaha motor. It is truly a thing of beauty.