Boundary Waters Bliss

     It’s an almost immediate reaction when my paddle breaks the surface of the water a smile slowly spreads across my face. As I draw the paddle through the water tiny muscles in my face I didn’t know had been tensed suddenly release. The weight of the canoe on my shoulders is nothing compared to the weight of the world I normally carry there.  The sparkling sunlight dancing on the water, the sound of the wind rustling through the pines and that smell only the Boundary Waters has all add up to the overwhelming feeling of bliss.

     If you could bottle up that feeling and sell it then you would indeed be the wealthiest person on the earth. If it was only as simple as to be able to drink it in at any time or any place. Yet the Boundary Waters Bliss is out there for everyone to experience. It doesn’t come in the form of a pill or packaged in a bottle but it is easily accessible.

     It’s there for anyone who chooses to take it all in. I chose to do just that the past few days. My niece graduated from High School and as part of a gift to her I agreed to take her and 3 of her friends into the Boundary Waters for a few nights. 

     Sleeping beneath the stars in a hammock, catching a northern pike, swimming in the refreshing water, portaging the paths beneath the pines and paddling the wilderness lakes. I felt the feelings of bliss. And now I wait and long for the next time I can dip my paddle and feel it once again.