I have always felt lucky to have my family. We always have fun together, go on adventures, and can talk about anything. However, things definitely aren’t always perfect. Sometimes we have to work through a problem to find a solution - which doesn’t always end so well…

“It looks a little cloudy,” I said as my brother splashed my older sister again with the paddle.

“Don’t worry, it’ll clear up soon,” my dad said while glaring back at my brother - mentally scolding him.
We continued rowing down the river, my older brother, sister, and mom in one canoe, my dad, younger brother and I in the other. About ten minutes had passed when I felt the first rain drop. My dad cocked his head and said sarcastically, “Hey… looks a little cloudy- may start to rain.” I looked at my dad with an “I told you so” look. He gave a slight smirk and started paddling faster.

“We could pull ashore over here,” my mom said pointing to shore, which had about 20 feet of weeds over my height that we would have to weed through. I looked around and it seemed like everyone had the same frown and thought as me.

“I think we can make it,” Jake my older brother chimed in. “Everyone just needs to row a little faster - especially this turtle behind me.” He gave his usual joking smile when Jess started yelling about how she had been doing all of the work so far.

I turned to see my dad’s thoughts. He hunted and fish near the water all of the time, so I was sure he knew of what to do. His face looked concerned as he was deep in thought of a possible idea. His eyebrows scrunched, while his neck extended looking ahead and behind for where the storm was moving. He slowly moved his hand past the edge of the boat, and leaned over (pulling most of the weight and boat with him), and dipped his finger tips into the water. He shook the water off and smiled at my mom.

“Oh geeze… what are you thinking Ed?” she asked with her eyes widening.

“The storm’s too wide… we’ll never make it.” Jake slumped his shoulders and pulled his oar back in the boat. “If we go through to shore then we have to go through the weeds, and who knows how long we are going to be stuck here in the woods.” My dad scanned the bottom of the boat by his feet. “I have a thought, but you may not like it.”