Friday, July 4, 2003:
We go on into Park City for the last bit of Fourth of July, some dessert at Jack and Lisa’s. There’s a man-made lake in the back. With the dusk descending, Sarah and Connor and Piper go out in a little dinghy. Was that a good idea? She surprises and succeeds, all on her own. Matt comes crying. It turns out that Tanner tripped him. Tom catches a fish, and has some trouble with it. John stands back and criticizes. Some ancient Albertan memory comes to me. I step in and extricate the hook and get the thing successfully back in the water. My kids don’t recognize me.
It’s time to leave, thank goodness. Not because I regret the time, but because this pleasant time has also let me appreciate my own life. Erin closes Sarah’s fingers in the van door. Sarah’s fingers survive.