On Lake Winnepesauke
Continued from Preunion: 1 | 2
On Saturday, we stepped into the scenery, as Terry said, and paddled out on the lake in kayaks and a canoe. Everybody went but me.
It's not that I don't love boats. It was just that I was loving my book, Maurice, by E.M. Forester. So while the others were gone -- Virginia, Vicki, Lynn, and Judy all in separate Kayaks, Terry and Susan in a canoe -- I settled on the little sand crescent by the water and read. A little. The lake was so pretty I had a hard time taking my eyes off it.
After they came back, Susan and Virginia joined me in the lawn chairs by the water. We read, and now and then we talked.
Someone pointed out how odd and nice it was that in this lively group, any one, two, or three of us would now and then drop out to read. We wouldn't leave the room. We would just stop talking and begin to read. Everybody did it.
It really is odd, when you think about it: with what other set of guests would this happen? But it makes sense when you picture that we lived in the same house when we were in college.
A subtle shift occurred. We have our answers. There is more detail to be had, of course, but we began to feel as though we know where we have been. We made our choices: kayak or canoe, a book by the water.
Sunday morning, Lynne picked up a crossword puzzle. At some point, she asked a clue out loud. Then another. Soon we all were drawn in, and we ended up spending the entire afternoon working first that puzzle, then the NY Times Sunday puzzle, out loud.
It was an awful lot of fun. It was a hard puzzle, and most of us don't have time for puzzles. It felt a little like a waste of time. I caught myself wondering: didn't I have a paper due tomorrow? Shouldn't I be reading for a class? Was I supposed to study for a test?
We were no longer catching up. We were just together again.
The next day we left as we had come, by twos and threes, resolving as we had nine years ago to stay in better touch. Until the next reunion.