Friday's FIVE!

We are looking forward to Kayaking in San Diego during whale migration soon.. Bruce and I enjoy each other ... and we both enjoy paddling and have planned several vacations around paddling... This weeks Friday's FIVE! focuses on some of paddling adventures.

1. Key West/2002

Getting married off the coast of Key West was certainly the highlight of this trip - but the paddle was definately a runner up! We rented a tandem kayak - and paddled all over the shallow water of the Keys for several hours and saw wildlife, nurse sharks and one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. It was truly an amazing paddle!

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2. Canaveral National Seashore/2005 http://www.nps.gov/cana/

We put in at JBs Fish Camp http://jbsfishcamp.com/ and paddled all over the Canaveral National Seashore - It was an amazing paddle - we saw so many wonderful migratory birds.

It was quiet and peaceful and a perfect day for a paddle. When we were done, we ended up at JBs Fishcamp for dinner and cold beer - I had a basket of Rock Shrimp... It was a great local spot...and a perfect place to make a wonderful memory!

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3. The Great Calusa Blueway/2006 http://calusablueway.com/

We rented a great little cottage in Matlacha on Pine Island http://www.pineislandchamber.org/

and spent everyday paddling. Some days we paddled for more than 8 hours. It was an amazing trip and we logged a lot of miles... paddling through the solitude of the mangroves. We saw dolphins and sting rays - birds - and other wildlife. There was still alot of hurricane damage from Hurricane Charley in 2004 - and abandoned boats were found in many of the still waters of the mangroves. It was wonderful trip... one of those that was so good, I hope we return someday. Pine Island/Matlacha is someplace we would like to think about spending a few winter months once we retire.

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4. Fontana Lake/Great Smoky Mountains/2007 http://www.greatsmokies.com/fontana.asp

Bruce and I typically take a fall hiking trip to Great Smoky Mountains ... and we usually stay near the Gatlinburg area - but in 2007, we rented a cabin near Bryson City and brought our kayaks. We kayaked Fontana Lake and had a wonderful trip. We saw bald eagles - and other wildlife. The water levels were very low due to the summer drought - but the views were truly amazing. We spent the entire day in our kayaks and paddled miles and miles and miles along the shore of Fontana lake. We also took our bikes and pedaled the trails of the Tsali. In the evenings we refueled and enjoyed carbo loading at the Nantahala Outdoor Center http://www.noc.com/http://www.noc.com/ where we saw many other paddlers and bicyclers.

It was truly and event made for Bruce and Mindy!

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5. Kosciusko County ... right where we live!!!

http://indiana.hometownlocator.com/features/physical,class,lake,scfips,18085.cfm

While we love to pack the kayaks up/or rent kayaks at an exciting... exotic out of state location - the very, very best kayaking we have ever experienced is right here in our own backyard. We love to get our kayaks out and paddle around the lake about any evening of the week. Often on summer weekends, we like to pack the kayaks up and head to another one of the 100+ lakes in the county. Some of the other enjoyed paddles we've enjoyed include the backwaters of Webster, Pike Lake area and the Barbee Chain. We love to load up our kayaks - fill the cooler full of beer, make a few sandwiches and grab a few apples ... we pack the sunscreen and bug spray and head out for a day full of kayaking. Life is so good!!!

Friday's FIVE!

February 14Th is Valentines Day.... However, it is MORE than Valentines Day to me - Valentines Day has always been a special day to me... On February 14, 1958... I came into this world weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz and 19 inches long. I've always enjoyed my birthday on Valentine's Day ~ so this weeks Friday's Five! is dedicated to five of my most memorable birthdays.

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2/14/1967 ~ I was 9 years old. As a child, our birthday family tradition was Mom's favorite dinner of your choice (My Mom has always been an amazing cook)... Grandma and Grandpa Alexander would usually come over.... of course there were gifts and cake and ice cream. My favorite birthday dinner request was always Pork Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Peas, Applesauce Jello and Cherry Chip Cake for dessert. Grandma Alexander would usually make the applesauce jello. In 1967 ~ my dream was a piano. My friend, Teena had a piano...and I always admired the music she was able to make with that piano. I dreamed of playing the piano. After dinner that evening - I was escorted to the living room...and much to my surprise...my parents had given me a piano for birthday. I was ecstatic! I didn't become a concert pianist, but I did learn enough to be able to play Christmas songs... Unfortunately, I lost that piano in a fire in 2003...but it brought many happy memories to my life.

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2/14/1974 ~ I was 16 years old. I had a small party at my house on 52ND street with a few friends. The significance of my 16Th birthday though is a gift that I received... The year before I was born, my Grandpa Alexander had given my Grandmother a heart shaped amethyst ring with six small diamonds for Valentines Day. My grandma had early onset osteoarthritis and her hands were very knobby and deformed from the disease. However, I can remember holding her hand and admiring that ring on her knobby fingers. I was about 4 years old, and she promised that the ring would be mine on my 16Th birthday. She didn't realize how fast those 12 years would pass...but she kept good on her promise and she gave me the ring. To this day, it is one of my most prized possessions.

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2/14/1998 ~ I was 40 years old... How did I ever get to be 40 years old??? Several of our Sunday School friends were a little older than we were... and I would get great joy giving those friends a hard time about still being in my 30's... They really let me have it when I turned 40.

My dear friends had fabricated a 20' tombstone for our yard that said "Here dies the youth of Mindy"... There was a horror commercial on the radio about the death of my youth... and my family had planned a surprise party for me that included the grim reaper delivering my birthday cake. It was a fun party that included music by the Posse... and many friends and family. I was completely surprised and happy that my friends could revel in the death of my youth.

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2/14/2002 ~ I have always shared my birthday with Valentines Day... and in 2002 it became my day. Bruce and I married off the coast of Key West on Valentines Day. It was an incredibly romantic day. We were married on a catamaran, The Dream chaser ... at sunset.

The day was absolutely perfect... and the absolute perfect day to marry my soul mate.

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2/14/2008 ~ My 50Th birthday was such a wonderful, special day. My girls and my mother planned a fabulous fiftieth birthday party for me. It was such a special day, because the party included old friends, new friends and my family. Everything detail was perfectly planned. It was a homecoming of sorts...as there were many friends I had not seen or spent time with for many years. While the 40Th gave my friends the opportunity to celebrate the death of my youth... my 50Th gave me the chance to celebrate the unconditional gift of family and friendships and truly celebrate the happiness in my life!

Friday's FIVE!

Bruce and I have just watched Apollo 13 with Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Gary Sinese. The movie has a clip of Apollo 11 crew walking on the moon - and I remembered vividly where I was when that moon walk occurred. This Friday's FIVE! is a recap of 5 historical events that have happened in my lifetime, and my memory of those events.

I have already mentioned this event in a previous Friday's FIVE! but it is one of those events that also must be included in this Friday's FIVE! On Friday, November 22, 1963 I was a 5 year old kindergarten student already home from school. We were close friends with our neighbors, The Blaughers - and my Mom and Charlotte Blaugher carpooled for the 1/2 day school schedule and would often trade off caring for child care. On this day, Kim Blaugher was at my house. We had a deal with each other - if we were at my house, we played house and dolls... if we were at his house, we would play airplanes and war games and 12 O'Clock High. We were playing house in the family room of my home when the Special News Report came on our black and white TV. I remember the event was significant because mother sat in her rocker with her face in her hands and cried. It was the first of many assignations that would have an impact our lives. I also remember the assignation of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Lee Harvey Oswald and John Lennon.

On July 20, 1969 - I was 11 years old and my family was gathered around a small black and white TV with rabbit ears and poor reception... right here where I live now, at Yellow Creek Lake. Apollo 11 had landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong had actually walked on the surface of the moon -

"The Eagle has Landed" "One Small Step for (a) Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind" .

I remember my parents being glued to the TV - which rarely happened at the lake. We didn't use the TV at the lake much. Most of our summer evenings were spent with our friends, The Ward family. Daddy and Don Ward would hold "Hootenany's" with their banjo and guitar and entertain all of us - but this evening, the entertainment was world history. I can remember being able to see the clear evening sky at the lake - the moon always seems brighter, the sky seems more clear than in other places... I had a new perspective of the clear moon that night...

a man had walked on the moon.

July 29, 1981 - I was a young stay at home mother. I woke up in the wee hours of the morning just to see the television coverage of the fairytale wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. I remember that she would not 'obey' in her vows... and I remember her amazing 25 foot train. I was 23 years old - and had a 14 month old baby...and the fairytale event was mesmerizing to this young, hoosier mother. August 21. 1997 - the day Princess Diana was killed in a car crash is also a vivid memory. Steve and I were at the home of Ronnie and Marsha Vermillion and we thought it was a joke. We soon learned that it was the truth... and although the Prince and Princess had long since divorced - the fascination with Princess Diana had continued... but her untimely death was the ultimate end of the fairy tale.

January 28, 1986... was a Tuesday. I was a 28 year old mother working for part time for Weight Watchers - I had two Weight Watcher classes....a Tuesday AM and a Tuesday PM. I had returned from my Tuesday AM class just in time to watch the coverage of the Space Shuttle Challenger lift off. This was an especially exciting space shuttle because crew member Christa McAulliffe was the first member of the Teacher in Space Program. Seventy Three seconds into the Space Shuttle Challenger flight, the space shuttle exploded leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida. Disintegration of the shuttle stack began after an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The live coverage was intense and the plume of white smoke was evidence of the tragedy we had all witnessed. I can remember praying for a miracle with the rest of the nation... however - the entire country would grieve over the deaths that happened before our eyes.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001... I was a 43 year old recently divorced, career oriented mother. I was in Orlando, Florida at a CARF conference. I had been at attending the conference in the morning - and it was on one of the conference 'breaks' between classes that we learned of the attacks.
The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the building. Both buildings collapsed within two hours, destroying at least two nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon and a fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania.

It was a day that changed the entire United States -

My life was changed... I was in Florida - and the airspace had been declared closed by the President for the rest of the week. I was not able to return home to my family until early Sunday morning It was during that time in Florida that I knew I needed to make life changing decisions. Life was too short and the reality of our imortality was a lesson we all learned at that time. I had been dating someone else and I knew at that time - my heart and my love was truly with Bruce Lankenau and I needed to be with him. We began seeing each other after I was finally able to return to Indiana... and by Christmas we were engaged and by February 14, 2002 - we were married.

These events are certainly memorable for all of us - and each of us has a story for where we were... and what we remembered.... Still to this day - I think of these days on the anniversary of the events and the memories of where I was and what I was doing lingers on....