Leaving Silver Bay - Greece in Five Days

Today is my last day at Silver Bay with my family, I will be leaving for New York City early tomorrow morning.

I just got done cutting open and gutting the fish we caught earlier. We had five big mouth bass, all about 8-13 inches in length, and I did two, blood, guts, and all. I found the stomach and after turning it inside out we found the corn we had used as bait. With my hands covered with the fish's insides I wanted to ask him if the corn was worth it. I had never done this before, and now, a few hours later with the smell of fish still on my hands, I feel like I have finally entered into manhood.

My cousin and I went sailing earlier, which was also a first time for me. We capsized only once, but I'm glad we did it, because that made it all the more eventful. The feeling of harnessing the wind to get you gliding across the water is one I can only relate to surfing. As you paddle into a wave, there is a particular moment where you feel the water's energy pick up the board and push forward, as you jump up and ride across the wave's surface.

The whole week at Silver Bay has been like this with lots of stuff planned. Tournaments of all different kinds, like shuffle board, ping-pong, and the Spencer family favorite, Scrabble. These plus scavenger hunts, a skit night, fishing and boating on the lake, and lots of cooking, have kept all of us busy together.

Yesterday we were stuck inside most of the time due to thunder and lightning storms that would come and go all day long, violent winds and rain that reminded us just how little we are. Our plans and our entire lives, lay often outside of our control, a lesson that nature cries out despite it's predictability. I sat on the front porch listening to natures cry, and realized that in five days, I will be even further outside comfort and control, in a land unknown to me, with only strangers that may or may not be interested in me. As the days grow shorter until my flight into Greece, I am realizing that there is no way to prepare for the unpredictable.