Rideau River, ON

My old home was on the Rideau River just outside of a little village called Merrickville. It wasn't the clearest of waters or extremely beautiful scenery. But my family and I still loved sitting on the dock at dawn to watch the boats go by.

I remember this one time it was about 8:00 in the morning. It was just me, sitting at the edge with my feet in the water. Everything was quiet except for a couple of damselflies gliding over the water and the occasional bird flying over my head. And then almost like a wake-up call, the river just sprang into life! Both dragonflies and damselflies chasing after another like in a game of tag. The fish were looking for food near the sand and schools of minnows were swimming passed, at least every five minutes. Herons flying over and loons singing to each other!

I can’t remember exactly how I felt, but I remember being in awe. This didn't feel real, but it was. Maybe they all knew when the boats would start to show up (which was about 9:00-9:30am cause the locks would have to open).

To this day I still wonder how it happened. It was quite amazing though and I think I’m lucky to witness it. I can no longer visit the dock or the house where I spent most of my childhood now that we moved. I miss living there a lot . I miss my friends, my old school, the house and town, as well as kayaking ,paddle boarding and sitting on that dock and watching the boats go by. If I was given the opportunity to go back down to my old house and see how much it's changed, I would. Maybe, just maybe, if I could go back to the dock and put my feet in the cool water I could relive the memory once more.