3 cheers for Miss Batdwarf, my kindergarten teacher, and all those safety scissor donning, sing songing samaritans out there who taught us the important things in life...our foundational skills, our building blocks for this game called l.i.f.e. Our teachers would have been proud to see us whitewater rafting yesterday, showcasing the skills they taught us in our wee little ages. These teachings potentially saved our lives on the Eagle River near Vail, CO.
Important Kindergarten Skill Learned #1: Listen. On our van voyage to the put-in spot on the river, we asked JJ, the van driver for any advice for our trek down the class 4 (of a max. 6) chute we were about to take on. Without hestitation, JJ said, "Listen to Alan." Enter Alan, our tour guide of 13 years experience with all the necessities of a leader: vision (literally which side of a rock to pass thru) calm and cool as a cucumber and a loud, clear voice. What amazed me more than anything on the rafting experience was the quiet and silence of us humans aboard. With the water roaring around us, we all focused intently straight ahead and had paddles ready to move on que from the almighty yell from Alan. "ALL FORWARD!" which translates in my mind as paddle your booty off. ALL STOP! "even if it feels more natural to paddle right now, don't even think about it. "BUMP!" make a heaping pile of bodies in the center of the raft. "Listen to Alan", thank you JJ for your wise words. Go Go Gadget ears!
Important Kindergarten Skill Learned #2: Right hand, Left hand. At some points in the river I thought for sure we would have had to paddle hard, when in fact, Alan didn't say a peep to us and so expertly our raft would automatically and peacefully cruise through a tough part. Then suddenly and quickly we would hear a command very seriously given.... "Right side forward, left side back!" And let me tell you, for a split second I had to think, 'which one am i?!!!!" And secretly, when we were in a calmer area of the river catching our breath, I would repeat to myself, "right side, right side, right side." There must be some Fraggle Rock or Mister Rogers episode to thank here.
I think most of us agree that experience is one of life's greatest teachers, right. This was definitely the case with the old adage, GO WITH THE FLOW. I've always considered myself a decent 'flower,' on the old river of life but yesterday I experienced the sheer and genuine wisdom in the statement.
Important Life skills learned anytime in life #101: Go with the flow and accept fully your circumstances. In the most precarious section of the chute was one particular huge boulder that was shaped like a triangle. He was so famous with us that he was given a name. Drumroll....the triangle rock. This doozy dumped Jerome and I into the 40 degree rushing water on our first descent. On our second and final trip down, Mr. Triangle rock caught us. We were extremely stuck on this rock with water, lots of frigid water gushing all over all of us and into our raft. At first, we tried desperately to paddle forward, back and inside out- anywhichway we could to release ourselves. And within that fury there was a 'buddhist' moment I would call it. I realized that we were very stuck and no amount of human effort seemed to matter, the river would simply spit us out when it was done chewing us up. And the buddhist part of it all was the acceptance, the surrender of 'yep, we are up a creek.' And then, we all saw our heroes. Another raft group was flying down the river coming straight for us, and quickly. They gave us a hefty bump and we were free and a quick inventory found us all 5 in the raft!
White water rafting is a true rush. Nothing in the universe exists in the moment besides your elbow grease effort, your paddle and the almighty voice of Alan. Adventure!
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