Perfect Day

This weekend was a long-planned group getaway to my father's cottage on an island in a large bay three hours' drive north of the city. I and my friend RK managed to get away on Thursday, giving us an extra day to prepare for the larger group who arrived the following day. On Friday evening RK made a huge batch of pasta while I ferried to the marina to retrieve the rest of the group: P&P, their two sons, and my friends BG and LS.

I think Saturday was actually an absolutely perfect day, perhaps the first one I have experienced in my life. We woke to a scrumptuous feast of bacon, eggs, toast, strawberry pancakes, hash browns, all served and enjoyed under the bright sun at the picnic table in back of the cabin.

After breakfast my friend and cottage neighbour DP arrived as planned to help us launch the sailboat, which had not been on the water since the summer before last, and which was filthy with dead leaves and similar sludge. With four guys we managed to get it in the water, and I paddled her out and attached her to the mooring in the middle of the bay behind our cottage.

While we were doing that, the girls were cleaning up from breakfast and preparing for lunch. We packed a picnic and drinks and headed out in a small convoy (one motorboat and one Sea-doo) for a really fantastic spot nearby with a couple of beaches as well as cliffs you can jump from.

It would be as impossible to list all the fantastic moments we had at the beach as it is turning out to be to quantify how this was a perfect day. As we arrived and unloaded, we encountered a tiny snake in the water who would return in the second act.

After we unpacked our coolers and blankets and set up camp on the beach, the recreation started out with a little hike up to the cliffs where the bold among us jumped into the water from some great and some moderate heights, and the more timid and/or responsible hiked back to the beach.

The fun continued back on the back as we swam back and rejoined the group. I took P&P's son N for a spin on the Seadoo which I guarantee he shall not soon forget, he was mesmerised from the first seconds. When we returned we met and made some new friends among the other beach-dwellers, including the brother of one of the mainstays at the marina, and then an odd but pleasant father-daughter pair and her friend. We finally left the beach but the fun was only beginning as we took the convoy back to the cabin. On our way back I took N on the Seadoo and we stopped at the neighbours and invited them to come visit us for a cocktail.

When we got back we watched the second half of the quarterfinal in the European cup soccer game and then bathed in the glory of our situation as BG and others prepared dinner. Our neighbour TF came over with his son-in-law and his friend and joined us on the porch for a nice cocktail hour conversation.

The sunset was off the charts gorgeous and to top it off, PH tracked down a space station which happened to be transitting our hemisphere and we lay collectively on our backs, mesmerized by the technological marvel.

It really was a perfect day, I need to maybe work on the narrative of it because it does not do it sufficient justice. I have gotten a series of messages from the guests who were there on the weekend and particularly PH, whom I adore to the end of the earth, and whose affection brings tears to my eyes, particularly because it is so genuine and also so directed as just what it is about me about which I am the most proud. Her message to me this morning moved me to tears when she said:
P went to bed crying, he had such a good time and he did not want the weekend to finish. Thank you again, you have such a big heart.