How Losing My Keys Made Me Question My Attachments
When a mishap on the lake brought childhood trauma to the surface
Paddling on the lake is just standard operating procedure for me. Paddling with a puppy — well, that’s new. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that the ultimate mishap happened when I was managing a puppy on a paddleboard.
First of all, I should point out that I typically don’t take my keys on the water. My car key and phone are strapped tight in a waterproof container on board. My house keys don’t travel on the water with me. Except for this one time when they did.
So, the puppy falls into the cold water in his life jacket, I move down to pull him out, and all I can hear is the musical jingle of my keys hitting the surface of the lake and plummeting straight for the bottom. While the lake is mostly shallow, I lose my keys at the deepest point when they come tumbling out of an open zipper pocket in the jacket I had added at the last minute because of the chill. No amount of reaching with my paddle can touch the bottom, and with cooler fall temperatures and a puppy tethered to my board, it doesn’t seem advisable to jump in after them.
Not that I think about it. For more than a minute or two. But I don’t do it because out of all the dumb things I could do in that moment, jumping…
