We weren’t sure what to do. The Xbox had grown boring, and TV re-runs did not look promising either. After 20 minutes of sitting and thinking, my friend and I finally came up with a solution.

We gathered some equipment and loaded everything into his old canoe. Then we went out back to dig up worms. As we looked around the compost pile and in his woods, our excitement about the day began to grow. Why had we not thought of this before? We put our worms in the canoe and began our trek, carrying the boat down the road. When we reached the edge of the reservoir, we shoved off.

There was a perfectly blue sky with the temperature in the mid-70s as we paddled across the water. We cruised the opposite shoreline, discovering coves and inlets that we never knew existed, looking for a place that possibly had fish. The shallow cove we decided on was partially covered in lily pads, transitioning from reeds to land so that the actual shoreline was hidden among these tall plants. On the other side was a rock face characteristic of our area of New England, sloping into the water where a fallen tree created a natural bridge across part of the cove.

As I compared this setting to my darkened basement, and my canoe to a couch, I realized that while sitting at home playing video games is entertaining, it only serves to pass the time. No memories are created. I will remember the day we went fishing on the reservoir for a long time, but sitting on a couch with a controller in my hand fades right into the next time I play a video game.