My most significant memory at Monck Lake is the first time I went tubing. At the time, I was three years old (too young to go by myself), so my cousin Cole sat in the tube with me on his lap.

My whole family has been thrill-seekers, excluding my mom. Me though, I thought I was not like my brother, cousins, or family. I was Mommy’s little girl, after all. I was terrified. The waves are crashing around you, water spraying in your eyes. “What’s the fun in that!” were my thoughts. I was petrified of falling off the tube into the enormous black and green lake that I could not see anything in. The plain truth was that I was terrified, but I could not chicken out. No, I needed to prove to my brother that I was not a scaredy-cat.

The boat started to pull out of the dock. I think I started hyperventilating. Cole gave me a big hug and said it is going to be okay. He said, “you are too small to fall out of the tube, even sitting on my lap. Your eyes are only peeking out of the edge of the tube. Besides, I am holding on to you if you fall in, I will too and Do not want to fall in.” He then laughed. The boat was revving up. He yelled over the engine “Hold on tight!” Then the speed boat launched off, creating waves and jumps and bumps.

The water was spraying like a cavern over top of us. The wind was whipping around my hair. It was brilliant. I wanted to run my hand through the water, but I couldn’t reach it with my short, stubby hands. My cousin Cole saw me reaching for the water and grabbed me by the waist and lifted me to the water. I ran my hand through the water, and for the first time, I was not afraid of the water. I was at peace. I learned you could not contain its beauty. It was intense but gentle, wild, free, and for the first time, the water from the lake was clear. I laughed and cheered and was so happy. Cole laughed too and yelled to my mom on the boat with my uncle Bob “I think we got another thrill-seeker In our family.”

Right after he said that, a huge wave came out of nowhere and launched Cole out of the tube with me because he was still holding my waist. We flew through the air and landed in the lake. It was dark and scary but so, so, so fun. When the life jacket floated Cole and me back to the surface, I cheered, “Again, Again!!!”

That is the story of how I fell in love with water and my watermark at Monck, Ontario, Canada.