a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

We went camping this weekend on the same island, same spot we’ve camped for the last three camping outing. In fact, our tent was set up about 10 feet from where it was the last time. This spot is quickly becoming my second home…and I like it, it allows me to go out and be a kid, kick around in a location I enjoy, yet know so little about.

A non-camping family we are friends with showed up to spend the day with us, and I had the opportunity to go wading around the island in shin-deep water with my friend. He knows my passion for everything outdoors, my love for self-reliance, and my curious nature. And better still, he grew up in this area, and now lives only about three sandbars away from this island, a short boat ride away.

As we waded around, he would point out various things, some I knew about, many I did not, all the time instructing me in names, harvest methods, uses, stories, and quips about the various things we saw in the water. I was in heaven, as I was not only doing something I yearned to do, but was getting the information from someone that learned it the way I would have, had I grown up here.

And then it hit me. When he was a kid growing up here, he did exactly what I would have, had I been in the same situation. And while reading about it on the internet will work, THIS is what I need to do to learn this stuff, my best method of understanding. Learning by playing is my best method of absorbing this information.

The most important thing he showed me, while we were messing around in the water like a couple pre-teen boys, was not about any of the life in or around that island, but about myself.

I’m looking forward to playing some more…

Many thanks to him!

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