Boat Life

As awesome as it is to have a fabulous pool in our backyard, we do have another love with water.
On a boat.

Boating has always been in my life for as long as I can remember.
Every summer my family would trek down to Tennessee to see my grandparents.
They had a pontoon boat with a kick ass motor, big enough for three tubers on the back playing "chicken."

Although I could never (and still can't to this day) get up and do things like wakeboarding, there are plenty of other things to do on a boat.

Like.....drinking.
If there is one thing I'm good at, it's drinking on a boat.
No wave is too big for this gal to spill her cheap champagne sloshing around in a solo cup.
No sir.

Living in the burbs of Chicago, we are blessed to live so close to a nice little stretch of waterfront called the Chain o' Lakes.  This is a combination of a bunch of rivers and lakes, each connected with plenty of dive bars, loose women willing to show the goods for some beads, water gun fights, and general slow moving debauchery.

As we get older, the drinking time frame has creeped up earlier and earlier.
This weekend we were in the water at 9:30am, and I had a mimosa in hand by 10.
It's okay because there is juice in it. Juice is a breakfast item. See?

So we cruise around, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at all the fancy houses with their huge windows and large, expansive back yards. And we chat about the differences in all the boats...whose is better and whose is shit. We'll "pull over" to the side every so often so I can hang my ass off the side to pee (always bring a roll of toilet paper, ladies....most boats aren't equipped with the essentials). Summer of '69 will be blaring in the background. My hair is being wound into one large knot that I am desperately trying to pin away from my face.

But we're free.
Free from expectations. Free from judgement. Free from responsibilities.
Just going as fast as the little boat will let us.

If we're lucky, and the waves aren't too bad, we'll dock at a sun-bleached bar to grab some road sodas and a bite to eat. Usually shrimp kebobs and other hand-held items. We'll walk around and people watch, locking eyes here and there when we spot a weirdo or two.

Then head home. Drunk and tired and happy and fulfilled. And it's barely 2pm.

That's the thing about boating.
Everyone you see is smiling.
Without a care in the world.
And it didn't matter how many hours you spent cleaning and prepping and gassing your boat prior to launch.
Once you hit that water.....you're free.