The Boat that Came Back

 

This will be a simple story of faith in humankind.

Opening weekend at the cottage - this year for us it was a May 22 to 25 extended weekend - has many tasks.  That's why we conscript the strong backs of family members to come along and help make it happen.  

One of the tasks that got done that weekend was carrying our small runabout boat out from the boathouse and onto the dock.  Next step would be to put on the motor and put it in the water, as seen here in a picture from last year.  But we didn't get to it.  No worries.  It was up safely on the black dock and would be fine until we came back to stay in two weeks.

That's what we thought.

After our return, it took us a few days to even notice it was missing.  We're used to seeing the dock empty as well as with a boat parked on top.  And the flurry of opening can be distracting.  So it's understandable.  But that week, after a heavy rain when Ken felt he should go over to bail it out....it wasn't there.

The boat itself isn't any great thing.  It was purchased by Ken's Grandmother in 1955, he thinks, so it's rocking 70 years old.  It's of standard design, well-made, been painted more times than we can remember, and has had the seats replaced a few times too.  Last year we purchased a new motor for this boat, with the hopes that this year we could begin some decent lessons for the younger ones.  So, no great thing, but pretty special to us.

There's an unspoken Cognashene code up here.  Nobody bothers your property.  Call it a throw back to simpler times when decent honest living and the trust that arises from that was a real thing.  But honestly, any reports of stolen items or break and enters are largely unheard of up here.

I will say that we did have an antique cedar canoe get lifted from the old boathouse that year we couldn't put the door on the large front opening properly, and you could see in.  We figured it was too much of a temptation for some eager collector with an apparently underdeveloped conscience.  But other than that, no problem.

We considered whether or not we should notify the police.  We also considered whether it actually just blew off the dock -- no one could remember tying it down -- and floated along the channel somehow.  We did a quick cruise back and forth but didn't see anything.  Then we had to come back to the city, and decided to pick things up when we got back.  

Except when we got back....

...there she was, in all her glory.  Someone had taken the time and the effort not just to bring our boat back to our dock, but to drag it right up onto the rocks and tie it up properly, which is what we should have done in the first place.

So cedar canoes notwithstanding, perhaps there is no throw back.  Maybe it's all still happening now.  Maybe, obviously, common decency and human goodness is still very much a thing.

Of course it is.

And of course we all have a part in making it so.

So a big, big thank you to the kind person who returned out boat.  I'm hoping to spread the word around here to see if we can discover who it was so as to say a proper thank you.  Might even make a big sign and just attach it to the boat, hoping whoever it was drives by and knows how much we appreciate it.

Here's to kids' boating lessons this summer!

Here's to securing your boat properly!

Here's to the basic decency in human hearts that makes the world so much of a better place!