Canoodling with Christmas

From Disdain to Distinction:

Fellow Paddlers:

I admire you.

I want you to know that I too am a person that paddles a solitary canoe during this Holiday Season.

I want you to know that I too am a person that has lived large portions of my life in boats and ships that capsized and sank me.

I want you to know that I too know and comprehend what it means to find all seaworthy vessels otherwise occupied.

I want you to know that I too have stood on the shore of many a strong stream and mighty, roaring river and wondered how in the world I would find the resources, or, muster the strength to ford, let alone cross them.

I want you to know that I found a single, rickety, time-and-water-swollen canoe.

The canoe, long-ago abandoned, simply arrived.

I did not summon it. And I most certainly did not build it.

The canoe arrived.

Weather-beaten and abandoned by those who once cherished it as a prized-possession.

I rescued the canoe.

Or, maybe the canoe rescued me.

I rid its moss and sanitized its mold-ridden bottom.

I patched its holes.

I sealed its leaks.

I repaired its sodden twin-paddles.

And then, one, fine, brisk morning, I launched its new, maiden voyage.

I sat in my new canoe.

I tested its buoyancy.

I pointed its stem towards the center of the stream.

And I began paddling.

I admire you, my fellow paddlers.

This Holiday Season, find a discarded and disregarded canoe.

Admire it.

Rescue it.

Polish it.

Turn its disdain.

Return its distinction.

Some very strong and potent potions will do the same for you.

Cherish This Day!