Pushing Off

These last two weeks of flowing downstream showed me that doing so is a beautiful, nearly effortless ride which can bring some amazing gifts into my life. The stream I've been floating feels connected to my book writing as well as care of my child with cancer. It all could be larger than that someday, but for now that is the obvious connection. It will continue to let this flow take me downstream.

Meanwhile, I've realized my RED inner tube for some big things in life is still sitting on the river bank. I need to give it a shove, hop on and then let the float trip begin. If the inner tube isn't yet in the water, it's kinda hard to go with the water's flow.

So, I've created a plan to push off from the river bank. Some of the items on the list scare me -- I don't know how rough the water is down any of those forks. No matter; it's not as if I really know what any given day might bring me, right? I recall going on an adventure with a group of former colleagues at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC. Located on the banks of the Catawba River in Charlotte, N.C., the U.S. National Whitewater Center is the world's largest artificial whitewater river and an official U.S. Olympic Training Site. My fellow raft mates and I (along with our guide) chose the gentle route first. After a few exciting trips around this path, we realized we were soon going to be quite bored.

"Are you ready for the big one?" asked the guide.

We all looked at each other sheepishly. Then one by one, we agreed. "Yeah, we're ready."

OMG. Within minutes we were full-on in Class IV rapids (man made, but who cares when they're freaking Class IV???) dropping more vertical feet than I care to recall. We made it through safely and decided to go again. As it turned out, this was an incredible thrill. The key we quickly learned (as our guide coached) was to paddle like hell into the huge vertical drops. This kept the raft pointed downstream and moving in that same direction. The last thing we wanted to do was go over the rapids sideways or backwards. That's when boats were more likely to flip over and people could potentially get hurt.

Amazingly, none of us fell out of the boat nor was anyone hurt (not true of all rafts that day). Although I had a good time, I was happy to get off the river that day.

With that in mind, I'll push my own raft into the water (this one is bigger and redder than the last...and you better believe I have a guide on this trip too!!!). I'm ready to paddle like hell and keep my raft pointed downstream should any rapids appear.

Bon voyage!