“I am the keeper of fragile things and I have kept of you what is indissoluble.”
—Anais Nin`

Letting go will never be cut and dried for me. I’ve had the canoe for 10 years, and it’s been along for thousands of life miles. Plenty of beauty, water and a handful of well-earned crash and burns. Mountains, rivers, salt marshes, oceans and forest lakes—it has been there. Let alone the films, magazines and stories it has inspired, and the endless nights I’ve slept in it wrapped in a vintage thunderbird blanket.  

But now, Smith stands on the lawn of my Houston bungalow waiting to rack it to the roof of his 4Runner and chase a few dreams of his own with his rowdy wife. He is understandably fired up with expectant joy, and I am too, since I know firsthand what it can bring to a life. A canoe can set you free. I’ll be fine, since there is now a pair of stunning new Merrimack canoes with me thanks to an environmental film I’ve been working on…

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above “I’ve always been smitten with moonlight, having surfed and fished under it so many times while the rest of the world is prone and lifeless,” says Nathaniel Riverhorse Nakadate. “This secret south Texas salt marsh is my go-to for things that go bump in the night.”

Photo: Tony Czech