Kids, Kayaking, Friends, Travel, Business, Fun, Life…

Life is in flux at all times; going up and down, and there are so many things that are important that is seems like an impossible task to take care of all that is important sometimes. This latest trip to Africa has been no different. I have had the opportunity to spend quality time with my two kids, paddling together every day, playing volleyball, ultimate Frisbee, football, capturing video, taking photos, eating, going into town, everything, and without their mom. This has been a unique experience for me, being alone with the kids for so long. I truly have had the opportunity to appreciate all that my kids are and will go home feeling very lucky to be blessed with these two kids.

I have also had the opportunity to paddle every day as hard as I want to and can physically (very close to one and the same). I have gone from a frigid winter to a hot summer with big water and all day to paddle in the name of training for the World Championships, filming for our new 2007 JK promo video, and putting the new Star series to the ultimate test. This has been a full on 5 weeks of paddling, and watching everyone else paddling and training for the same thing. Everyone wants to be the best they can be, and most hope to be the best there is, at least those I am paddling with and those who come here to paddle. In the end it is all a game, of course, one that is played for the enjoyment factor, not the end goal of winning. This makes for an interesting balancing act with my kids, my team, and those who are not on Team JK but are here to train. You want to measure yourself against what others are doing, but at the same time enjoy what you are doing and what you are learning, and at the same time as that, just enjoy what you are doing for the sake of doing it, and hopefully keep your friends and family enjoying it for the right reasons too. Luckily, my kids, and my team are fanatical about having fun and being supportive. This makes it easy for me.

The culture of local Uganda is one that is best experienced along side of Team JK’s Jessie Stone. We spent numerous days working along side of her in local villiages, teaching people about malaria and helping them prevent it in their households. Our latest trip was a “follow up” where we were lead from hut to hut by the “local chief” to see if the people in the huts were using their nets properly and understood how to use them to prevent malaria, and also to teach them how to cure malaria if they get it. Since men have more than one wife, it was usually a wife with any number of little kids, in a stick and mud hut, or sometimes a homemade brick hut (home made bricks). We were in the boonies, as much as you can imagine in Appalachia, imagine that concept in Africa, where poor has a new meaning. Women were putting a little water from a bucket they filled up at the river into a pot on an open fire, with a handful of dried up minnows and stirring them up to give to 1 and 2 year olds. The kids were eating them like they were candy. The cool thing about the culture difference, is that there isn’t that much really. They will look at you and laugh when you do something that seems goofy to them, smirk, and smile, but welcome you in their homes without reservation. I thank Jessie for all she does for these communities, but just as much, how much she does to enrich the lives of my children, and myself.

While I am running a successful business that is doing great things at a variety of levels, I am not always doing everything I should in communicating with all of the people that are so important to the company. Lack of communication breeds trouble. I am lucky to have Kristine, who is able to cut through any trouble, and find the source, which is back to communication, of course, and then help me remedy the situation. In trying to do the right thing in business 100% of the time, any trouble can be fixed because the foundation of the business is always on solid ground. Jackson Kayak is something I am super proud of, because of the wonderful things the company does for others, and the wonderful people that make up the company. Everyone goes above and beyond to assure that they are proud of the job they do as well, and anyone who does not, will not feel comfortable there.

What is fun anyway? I hope that everything I do in a day is fun, regardless if it is also work or difficult. My team of athletes certainly enjoy what they do, including the taking, capturing, and organizing of video and photos. They are passionate about their paddling, the boats that they paddle, and helping others with their paddling. It seems that all they do is fun to them. Some tasks seem less fun on the surface, but any task worth doing is worth doing well and having fun doing it. I think I finally determined what is fun and what is not. Fun is anything you decide to have fun doing. No fun is simply looking at the negative side of any task and replaying in your head why you wish you were doing something else. Complaining is pure and simple wasting life, since you can’t complain and have fun at the same time. Just watching two people do the same thing and one having fun and the other not, is proof enough that fun is up to the individual. I hope that naming the boat line the Fun series helps remind people when they look at the boat that it is all about the fun.

Life is in flux, and everything in it grows and dies over time. I am as mystified by my life and the lives of my friends and family today as I ever was. There is no such thing as a perfect life and I guess that is what assures that we are never bored. For me, if those around me are happier by being associated with me, then I can sleep at night knowing that I am doing the “right” thing.

Time to go play with the kids…

🙂 EJ