It’s such an amazingly bright sensation when you feel overwhelming tenderness toward another. And it’s so sad when he or she is completely unaware of that tenderness.
I got up at 7:30 (AM!) today to get ready for river rafting. I left to get Aaron at 9:00; he was wearing pants and shoes. “Dude, we’re going on a river — you’re gonna get wet!” I was gonna call Laurel from Scheeb’s house but John (Aaron’s dad) and Sue (Laurel’s mom) were already on the phone, so I had no call to make, just a quick exchange of conversers. We got there at 10:00, and spent two hours (!) preparing to go. Shawn showed up, then Laurel, then John Springer, then John Wax, then Jillian, then Aaron’s sisters Meghan (I don’t have a yearbook with her in it so I have no clue if that’s right) and Mariah (again with the spelling). We set off at noon, having planned on an 11:00 departure.
Our journey was fraught with peril. On our first rapid, Springer was sucked under a snag and we have a terrifying moment of apprehension — until he came up again. Then I fell out of the raft. It was a very slow fall. So slow, in fact, that I had time to say, “Help John!” He started dumbly at me. I started falling off. “Help me ya fuck!!!” I screamed. He didn’t. Duuuuuh. So I fell in the drink and had to get out again. As I came to the place they stopped to wait for me, I fell down the bank and scraped my elbow.
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But this was not the end of the mishaps. Oooooooh no. About a mile down the river we came to a snag and I fell out again. “Damn you John!!!!” The water was fast here, and I was blind. Luckily I grabbed a tree limb and fought my way out of the water. I was clinging to that branch as the stuff in the raft started floating by. The damn thing had capsized! I let the stuff all go, but when the bag with our wallets and keys floated by I made an heroic dive and caught it, swimming triumphantly to shore. We re-grouped, and somehow Laurel (who had survived the treacherous section of river and was happily paddling downstream) managed to get both my sandals (which of course flew off in the water), the cooler (with food in it!) and a whole bunch of other stuff. Really we only lost sunscreen. I did not manage to recover the missing lens from my sunglasses, though.
The rest of the trip passed pretty much without mishap. Unfortunately, it took us about five hours to go four miles. Not because the river was slow, but because we got separated frequently, so the people in the back had to wait for the slowpokes. Oh, and also because Shawn kept shooting off his filthy mouth about eating poop and stuff.
Tomorrow is another geek-fest at Aaron’s, but I don’t know if I want to go. I have to work.
So now it’s 4th of July night, and I don’t really feel like shooting off fireworks. I’m actually kind of blue. Cisco (our dog) is cowering by my feet, terrified of the noise. I’m tired but can’t sleep. I have to do something important tomorrow — if I have the guts. I have before, but it’s so damn hard, y’know.
Peace.
Tags: 4th of July, Biterroot, Rafting
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