His Mother Told Me I'd Never Be Bored

"Is that about as slow as you can pedal?" I asked Joe as he rode his surf bike toward the paddle boat.
He didn't even have time to answer before "Splash!" and he was gone! Just disappeared beneath the surface of a gigantic Swiss lake!
The surf bike was an interesting apparatus. Imagine a surf board with a bicycle seat and bicycle handlebars on it, just no wheels. Pedaling moves a small propeller beneath the board that moves the surf board across the water. Easy.
"Oh no! Where did Papa go?" Celeste cried out from the safety of the paddle boat. At age 10, she was sensible, and knew enough about the world to know that one shouldn't be on a giant lake without a life jacket. In fact, she was so sensible that she tried to caution her father when he saw the shop that rented surfbikes.
"I don't know, but I'm sure he'll be up in a second," I replied as calmly as I could manage.  Sure, this happens all the time. We're visiting a foreign country, and my husband, father of our two kids falls into the lake from the surfbike that he just had to rent.
In a split second I recalled his lovely mother telling me on the eve of our wedding that once married, 1. I couldn't give him back, and 2. that I'd never be bored.  And, once again, on postcard-perfect July day on Lake Lucerne in the Swiss Alps I WAS NOT BORED!  Instead, my mind ran through thoughts like a Rolodex: What do I do if he doesn't come up? How will this trauma affect these two children?  How does one get a body back to the USA? And finally, Do not drown on my birthday!
Just as my mind raced through these dark, morbid thoughts, he resurfaced. Thank you God!
Of course, the kids were as relieved as I was. He got into the paddle boat, and as Charlie and I pedaled, Joe held the bike alongside and towed it.
Charlie gave me one of his looks that I'd seen so often in twelve years. It said, "I really can't believe that he thought this was a good idea. And yet, I can believe it because this is my dad."
As we settled down and laughed a little, we noticed that Joe's glasses were not on his face. No doubt still falling slowly through the deep aqua water to lie forever at the bottom of the lake.

And then Joe asked sincerely and benignly, "Does anyone else want to ride the surfbike?" As if this was the greatest thing ever!
"No!" we all three shouted.
There were many blessings that day:  He resurfaced and was fine, though his passport was soggy and the glasses were gone forever. The Swiss government requires that children wear life jackets, so our two had life jackets, (though we two adults did not). And most important, my two children are not as nutty as their father and declined his invitation to ride the surfbike.