Lakeside Day Dreaming

It’s kind of funny, but when I’m at, near, by, in front of or in a lake, I almost become a different person.
First of all, I become quite lazy. Time seems to stand still. I become a chameleon and adopt the lifestyle of whatever area of the country I’m in. I seem to like the south the best; they have two speeds: slow and slower.
Being on a lake allows me to explore and embrace parts of myself that I normally don’t. It’s such a sense of freedom to wear hardly any clothes and not wear makeup. It’s just so easy to stick my hair up in a hat (this weekend it was my “Life is Good” baseball cap) and throw on sunglasses and flip flops and call it a day.
I have to be careful though, and not let my mind wander too far. Case in point: I thought (very shortly but still thought) that I might want to get a tattoo. When you see someone in fewer clothes, you find out some surprising things. This weekend was tattoo discovery time for me. I was surprised at how many people, of all ages and sizes have them! So I thought – why not me?
I don’t want anything large – and I don’t want it to show in public. And I don’t want to put it somewhere that it could potentially grow. Meaning I don’t want to put a hummingbird on my hip and when I’m 90 look down and wonder why I put a very large eagle on my body. I did figure that a tattoo may be able to hide a few flaws. I could get a very colorful flower, and as I acquire more stretch marks, I can just fill in the lines with bright colors, hence covering them up. Think about what a pretty, webbed design that could be.
But once the beer wore off (yes, this wine drinker will drink a cold one when on the lake) and my senses came back, I did realize that: a) I am not into pain, and b) I don’t want to have to explain to my grandchildren why I have what appears to be a road map of Kentucky on my thigh.
This isn’t the first foray into the tattoo state of mind. My girlfriend and I set out to get matching cute little tattoos and returned with very lovely and removable bracelets. Once again, the voice of reason rescued me.
Mind you I am not against ink. It’s an art and also a club – one that I probably have no business being a member of. I am fine with the occasional hemp tattoo. Just as I’m fine sitting on my friends Harley pretending that I’m a biker chick. Some things are better left as a dream. That’s the thing about floating on a lake. It gives the mind time to wander. (For me that’s not unusual, so I should say it gives my mind time to wander even more than it normally does…).
Today it’s back to work and back to reality. In my mind, I’m floating on my Cleopatra inner tube with the floating cooler right next to me, gazing at the reflection of the trees and the clouds in the clear, green water. Ah, thank goodness for day dreaming – it helps keep this smile on this face. By the way, I decided a butterfly would be a great tattoo…as it grows it can change from a tiny moth to a giant Monarch. Or, I could stop drinking the beer and hope that my body parts will stop stretching too. Hopefully it will back to the lake soon where I have two decisions to make: Bud or Coors Light.