Lessons from the River – My FEARLESS Adventure
What could be scarier or more challenging than ME on a 5-day Whitewater rafting trip through the Gates of Lodore in Colorado and Utah? (Admit it, you were a little scared when you saw the words Tiffany & Whitewater together).
But I DID IT!
2) What a groover is. If you don’t know, you probably don’t want to.
3) If you scream like horror-flick blonde, you will get made fun of around the campfire.
4) When things go wrong on the river, they go wrong fast and they go really wrong.
5) If you haven’t used your underwater camera in a year – check it before going shutterbuggy.
6) Braids are the ideal river hairstyle.
7) River trips have their own language.
8) Camping requires lots of STUFF
Don’t we look rather FEARLESS? Okay, really we just look amused…. but there was plenty of fearlessness occurring too. And it was, most definitely, an ADVENTURE!
Apply sunblock BEFORE you put on your Chacos
The shoes that caused it… (though mine are lighter pink)
…Also, pedicures are no match for camping.
2 ) I am not a camper.
I didn’t really think about the fact that when I had to sleep in it the next night, it would be out in the WILD and it would be dark. It’s a good thing St. Matt bought me a kid’s flashlight, complete with blinking lights (aka the ‘disco setting’) and a nightlight. I kept that on the whole first night.
3) If you scream like horror-flick blonde, you will get made fun of around the campfire
In my defense, someone had seen a SNAKE in that general area the day before. And I heard a scary noise in the bushes behind me. The fact that it turned out to be a bird and not actually a man-eating serpent isn’t relevant.
A True Test of FEARLESSNESS
By putting Fearless Summer out there in the universe, I knew I would be tested. I just didn’t know how MUCH I would be tested or what types of opportunities I’d be given to grow.
Tomorrow I leave for a Fearless Adventure – Five days of whitewater rafting in Utah and Colorado.
Less than 24 hours after I posted my original declaration of Fearless Summer my college roomie called. St. Matt and I already had plane tickets to go visit J-bean and her husband in New Mexico, but those plans were about to change.
“How’d you like to go rafting?” J-bean asked.
“Rafting?”
“You know, whitewater rafting.”
J-bean proceeded to tell me about how they’d been offered a last minute rafting pass to Gates of Lodore, a place that she and her husband had been wanting to go for years.
I had never considered going whitewater rafting before – it sounds scary and potentially deadly for someone as spaztastic as me. I looked over at St. Matt who was nodding so enthusiastically his head might detach. Taking a fearless breath, I said: “Um, sure. Tell me the details.”
The details include five days on the river in class 3-4 rapids. J-bean’s husband is guide certified, so they have all the gear and it’ll just be us in the raft.
J-bean sent us a list of stuff we’d need and we set about purchasing it.
EMS is a culture unto itself. I felt like I’d been transported to the world of Westerfeld’s Uglies – there were water purifiers and grippy shoes. I found myself looking around for hoverboards and interface rings.
They didn’t have these… but I did find the supplies I needed and all are in pink or green! (For once St. Matt approves of my color scheme because he thinks it’ll make me easier to spot if I wander off in the wilderness.) I even found waterproof notepads for my whitewater *fierce wonderings* and inspirations. They’re green. I bought two. I like buying camping stuff.
I’ve never camped before. When I was six, I was supposed to go camping with my cousins, but before I even got to spend the night in a tent, I managed to break my arm. Badly. Hold your arm up and flop your wrist – see how it creates a 90* angle? Mine did that 3 inches below the wrist joint.
So when I announced that I was go rafting – people worried. “Um, does J-bean know about your… um, tendency to get hurt?”
She does — my college experience wasn’t exactly mishap or ER-free — but conveniently both she and her husband are doctors.
If I fall out of the boat, I figure they’ll fish me out and plop me back in. If I get cut – they’ll stitch me back up.
And St. Matt has already double and triple checked that there’s a helmet with my name on it.
So while others may fret and worry and hug me extra tight before I leave – I’m not anxious. I’m not concerned. I’m FEARLESS.
So wish me luck and leave me messages for when I come back from my FEARLESS adventure – because I will come back, braver, stronger, tanner, and perhaps soggier! THIS is what Fearless Summer is all about!
*disclaimer* I AM concerned about being *gulp* technology-less for FIVE whole days. You won’t see me on twitter or my blog because Gilbert, Petunia and Huey are all going to be left behind where it’s safe and dry!