Tough Decisions

Some days you want to paddle, but you know it is not a great idea.
This was the dilemma I was facing all last week. I wanted to paddle on Saturday, but knew that it would be tight schedule wise. By Thursday I was pretty beat between work, house shopping, and just living. It was pretty clear that I was not going to get a chance to recoup much before the weekend. Still, I wanted to paddle. It is one of my primary means of re-energizing myself and maintaining my balance.
The weather was not particularly cooperative either. The forecast for Saturday kept getting worse. On Thursday it was forecasted to be windy, but not too bad. On Friday the wind forecasts had gone up and they were predicting gusts over 20kts. Friday evening NOAA had decided that a small craft advisory for Saturday was warranted due to possible gusts of 25kts.
Still not completely ready to give up the ghost, I sent out an e-mail to the rest of the group to see who was still up for a paddle. I knew that going would be foolish. I had gotten home from a family dinner at 11:30pm, was totally beat from a long week, and would have to get up early to make the put-in. The group was going to be small and the water is still very cold. However, there was still that part of me that wanted to go. It is a similar voice to the one that talks me into one more beer when I've already had too many or the one that used to talk me into buying just one more pack of cigarettes.
When I got up Saturday morning and checked e-mail and the forecast, the situation was still pretty much the same as when I went to bed. The forecast had gotten a little worse - wind gusts were predicted up to 30kts. CC had e-mailed and put the ball squarely in my court. I was the one with the longest drive and playing wait and see is not really a workable solution from Waltham.
What was I going to do? The voices in my head were both making their cases. Paddling is good. It will invigorate you and help clean out the cruft from the week. It is not worth the risk of running into trouble in cold water. There are plenty of places to stay out of the worst of the wind. You can get a decent paddle in and reap the benefits. Driving three hours is a lot of wasted time and gas if conditions are just a touch worse than predicted. I could bring a book and chill out at Java Madness. The extra sleep would be excellent and there is cleaning to be done. I might get to kayak and it might be extra fun. It might be dangerous and you might get hurt.
Thankfully, H chimed in and said "If you want to go that's OK, but I'd rather you didn't hurt yourself. Besides if you stay you can spend more time with me!" It is always nice to have a voice of reason around and it doesn't hurt that she is wicked cute either. She cut through the imps voice and pushed me over to the side of safe.
I sent the e-mail saying I was going to stay home this time. It wasn't easy to do because the imp wasn't silenced, but he was defeated for this round.
Ultimately, it was a good decision. I caught up on some sleep and got to spend quality time with H. I also didn't have to rush around to make evening plans with city friends.
Still.....