100 Business Days Out: Day 34 - Swimming Holes

Okay, this has been sticking with me and I must share. On Monday when I got to Austin, it was hot. I mean really hot. Like triple digit August Austin hot but it was May. I got out to Hank Stringer's house (Casa Stringer for me when I am in Austin and because of Hank and Liz's enormous hospitality) around 4:00pm and it was the hottest part of the day. Hank asked me what I had cooking and I said, "other than me, nothing, why?". He said, "if you have nothing going on, let's go down to the swimming hole". I had a pair of running shorts with me and I really didn't have anything to do, so I said, "Yeah, let's go to the swimming hole". And that is what we did. Hank, his son Jack and me walked downstream from his place to where his neighbor has dug out all the way down to the limestone and dammed up the creek enough that he has created about a 6 foot deep by 25 yards long real swimming hole. I had my phone/PDA with me and I laid it on a rock far enough away from the water that even if I had gotten a call, I wouldn't have been able to answer it in time and I took the plunge into the cold creek water. And while I was treading water to say warm I was all smile as I felt like, as much as I have felt since I was in eighth grade back in Indiana, that I was playing hooky from school on a early May day. I never was one much for playing hooky from work. I can count on my one hand the number of times that I snuck out of the office early to play golf and I can't ever remember going out to lunch and deciding to make an afternoon out of it. While I don't condone that behaviour, I must say that in the long-term scheme of things, playing hooky every now and then with business associates is not the worst of things. We lack camaraderie in business these days. More than that we lack the stories that we can tell over and over and reminisce against. Maybe a few more hooky days where you sneak out of the office and go to the swimming hole would create some bonds that could end up being lifelong. So, if you get the chance, Google map where your local swimming hole is and put an afternoon on the calendar to just go.