May 12

Today I was going to go fishing, my boat hooked up to my truck, fishing license ready. I wish I could take my fishing buddy. The rule right now is no one on the boat that doesn’t live in the same house. My wife is too busy for fishing so I figured it was time for a solo troll on Okanagan Lake. My morning started slower than planned and before I knew it I got side-tracked with stuff on the computer. I had a bit of work, emails and then the wind picked up. Before long it was time to go get my daughter. The fishing boat is still connected to the truck. Maybe I can go tomorrow.

It was nice to have my beautiful teenage girl home today. She was happy to be home as well. Mostly so she could see her friends. I remember being a teenager. Life felt so hard back then, what a jerk I was to my parents. I realized now how easy life really was. Now kids have cell phones and all the technology imaginable. I wonder if thirty years from now they will look back and realize how good they had it? We did manage to go for a walk by the lake with my daughter, a small victory with my kid who only wants to hang with her friends.

We walked by Gellately Bay this evening. I love walking by the lake, breathing in the fresh clean air and absorbing the beauty of the waterfront. Walking by the lake brings memories of younger days. The waterfront of West Kelowna has changed a lot since I first camped on this bay thirty years ago.

I first camped in a small campground on native land called Stepping Stone. It was nice little campground that was right on the water. It had showers, a volley ball court and lots of pretty girls. What more could a nineteen year old guy want? I had ridden my motorcycle from Calgary and pitched my tent on the sand next to the lake. Stepping Stone became my campground of choice for the next few years and I would return on an annual basis. The bay was less developed then. We called Stepping Stone the last resort campground, most people went there as a last resort. There were lots of campgrounds along Okanagan Lake in the early nineties. Now most of those campgrounds have become fancy developments. There are large condo buildings where people used to come and pitch a tent by the lake. Stepping Stone is now a native beach for the Westbank First Nations. There is a beautiful manicured path that follows Gellately bay.

Tonight I stared across the water at the majesty of the Monashee mountains. Storm clouds blackened the sky. We could see the rain in the distance covering Black Mountain and irrigating the hills around it. I could remember all those times by the lake in hazy details. I had campfires, fishing and waterskiing in the early morning behind my buddy’s boat. I would watch the sun-rise and walk this same shoreline. I always knew that one day I would move to this paradise.

As I held my wife’s hand and stared into the distance, I soaked in the moment and felt home. Coronavirus, fear, even my own physical pain faded in that moment. What is truly important was right there by my side. My daughter, my wife and the feeling of home.