My niece & nephew are in town for the weekend so today my Mom figures it's a great day to take them to the lake, pull 'em around on the tube, basically let 'em cut loose, I didn't want to go to the lake today, yeah kind of odd huh? I really didn't want to take my boat, not much sleep last night, tons of shit to do today. Anyway, we go to the lake with my parents' boat, 19' runabout open bow I/O dealio. We do some tubing, grill some burgers and relax. A family camps out next to us with 3 kids and a cool as hell dog, we start talking and the inevitable "is that your boat" gets asked by one of the kids, I tell them no it's my mom's and we continue on with our day. Take the niece & nephew out for some more tubing, as we're coming back to shore, to leave, so I can get my ass home to take care of all the stuff I blew off this morning, my step-dad is standing on the shore with these kids, I guess he had told them I'd take them tubing! I really wanted/needed to get home and get busy but these kids (4,6,8 years old) all had big ol' puppy dog eyes, I told them fine, get in, I'll spin you around the lake but no tubing, I figured what the hell a 10 minute boat ride won't kill me.
I hit the throttle and those kids began to laugh, scream hysterically, laugh some more and smile like I haven't seen anyone smile in a loooooooooooong time, we spent the next hour with those kids on the boat. When we finally headed for shore they were bummed, but they all thanked the wife and I profusely, put their life jackets back under the seats, etc.
When we got on shore the 4 year old is screaming to her mom "Mommy, this is the best day ever!" then all three of them again thanked us, the parents thanked us and we headed out.
The moral to this long winded, sappy, sissy la la post?
Take some time out of your day and enjoy the simple things in life, be thankful for what you have and don't be afraid to give a little of yourself if it makes someone else happy.
I can still hear them screaming & laughing.
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