Apology

So there I was, sitting in a lounge chair on a white-sand beach in the Bahamas when the thought struck me: I didn’t write a column for the week after Valentine’s. I had boarded a plane on Sunday and caught a boat on Tuesday and now it was Wednesday and I couldn’t enjoy the 70 degree temperatures, blue skies and the bluer water, because I hadn’t written 700 words about the outdoors. What was worse I couldn’t call or e-mail my editor to tell him I didn’t submit him a column yesterday. I’m sure he figured it out, but I still felt terrible. I sat up in my beach chair, stunned.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, I turned to my wife and said, “Honey, I forgot to write my column for yesterday’s deadline. Oh, and you’re starting to burn.” She groaned, flipped over to grill her back and replied, “Thanks for telling me. I was starting to feel pretty warm.” Then she added as consolation, “I’ll bet people start rioting because your column is missing this week.”
By the time we returned from tanning at the beach and checking out the beauty of the ocean in a glass-bottomed boat, I was beginning to realize that it wasn’t the end of the world. Well, at least for me. For some of you who wait with bated breath for each week’s new Wasatch Outside installment, it may have felt like the end of the world. Sorry, but we’re all over it, right?
Now that I’ve sufficiently pumped up my self-esteem imagining that people can’t live without my column, I’ll get down to business. It was interesting to leave a place where wintry activities are still in full swing and go to a place where summer sports are a year-round thing. The water in the Bahamas was still a little chilly for me, but many people had no problem hopping on a jet ski and blasting across the beachfront.
I’ll be honest: I wasn’t ready to enter the summer world just yet. I was secretly happy when that little groundhog saw his shadow and I knew winter would last another six weeks. I’m not done with the snow in the mountains, and the beaches and sun last week ended up just confusing my poor little landlubber brain. I’m sure many of you would have gladly switched places with me last week, but there is a time for everything, and winter needs its proper share of the year.
Visiting the Bahamas made me sad. No, sad’s not the word I want to use. The Bahamas made me yearn for the winter and snow that my vacation had attempted to cut short. My wife, on the other hand, was holding glass jars up toward the sun trying to capture as many rays as possible to take home with her.
The white sandy beaches reminded me of snow. The surfers and boogie boarders all looked like scantily clad snowboarders. Jet skis sounded like snowmobiles. I continually thought about how islands are really just the tops of mountains buried under water. I was hopeless. Thankfully, the vacation ended, and as I stepped off the airplane at Salt Lake International Airport, I remembered why I went on the trip in the first place: it’s pretty darn cold in Utah. There’s always a trade-off.
I hope nobody looted a store because I missed last week, but I’m back and ready to enjoy Utah’s outdoor winter activities some more. Til next week!