My Big Blue Oars & Scott

I recently went for a walk to clear my head (more on that in a minute) and found these AWESOME blue oars by the side of the road, waiting for the garbage truck. Seriously. You would shell out some cash for these at Pottery Barn.


Aren't they awesome? They now reside in our entryway/piano/dining room which I totally redid after Scott told me he really didn't like the color in there. (Even the ceiling was that color...aaarg.) Anyway, I redid it for him, because I love him. Which brings me back to why I went for a walk to clear my head.

On the day I found the BIG BLUE OARS, Scott was taking apart our boat lift to have a part fixed. He was down at the lake by himself; I was sitting in the kitchen reading the newspaper. It was a hot day, so we had the air conditioner running and all of the windows closed. The kids were watching a movie in the basement.

While I was reading the paper, I heard a horrible scream. I just bolted for the door and ran down towards the lake. I didn't see Scott. Then his head came up out of the water and he screamed again. He had pulled a part off the boat lift and it crashed down on him while he was face down in the water and pinned his legs. He could barely get his head up.

I jumped in and started trying to pull the bunks off his legs and couldn't move them.

As he wiggled his legs, trying to free himself, the lift was closing more tightly on them. At one point, he gasped, "It's going to cut my feet off."

I thought I should probably go up to the house and call 9-1-1, but I couldn't leave him down there alone. There was a hammer on the dock, so I grabbed that and handed it to him; he could get a little bit better leverege on the bunks and was able to pry them apart enough to get his legs out.

After he was free, we stood in silence in the water, trying to catch our collective breaths, staring at each other. I finally said, "You could have died." To which he replied, "I know."

We have a new rule: no working in the lake without someone else present. Period.

So, later that day, I went for a walk, because all I could think about was how I almost became a widow that morning; and then I found the big blue oars. Every time I look at them, I think of Scott and how much I love him.

(A little side note...I carried those oars more than a mile home. Got some really weird looks from passing cars; and my arms were very sore the next day. Totally worth it.)