The River - Part 1

How would you like to wake up to this?

I’ve thought over what would be the best way for me to describe this trip, and have always come back blank.  Because, really, there is no way to sum up in words the beauty and mystery of the river, the marvelous grandeur of the red rock country, or the feeling of oneness that comes from the bonds of sisterhood.  So instead of trying to explain the unexplainable, I am going to tell you about what the river taught me.

Here's a picture of the whole group and our 3 trusty boats.  :)
I'm in pink and a skirt - wow I seem girlee don't I?

First I must thank Yvette at Soul-R-Eclipse for this amazing experience.  She fell in love with the river somewhere around a decade ago and has made it one of her life goals to share her love of the river with women in need of its lessons.  She created the non-profit organization Soul-R-Eclipse to work towards this goal.  We had the privilege of being Soul-R-Eclipse’s maiden voyage.  Once again there are no words to express my gratitude.  Thank you Yvette!

Now, without further ado… my first installment of what the river, and the experiences I had on the river, taught me.

Unloading the boats.  This huge bag with too much
stuff that I'm hauling is probably my own.

Leave behind what you don't need

Before leaving on this adventure we all received a packet from Yvette with instructions on what to bring so we would be prepared for the adventure.  Also stated in this packet was something along the lines of “you’ll be happier if you pack light.”  I looked over my list, packed everything that made sense to me, and doubled up on some things, and added some other things.  I wanted to have my bases covered for 3 days on the river. 

Well I am happy to say I had basically everything I needed.  I am sad to say I packed too much stuff, which might not sound like a big deal when you are in a hotel.  But when you must pack all of your stuff into a white round sack that will then be secured onto a boat it is much more tricky.  The more stuff in the sack the harder to close it.  I can say there were definitely quite a few things I wish I had left home.

Which is true of life I think.  Don’t we all haul around things we really don’t need?  It could be resentment, sadness, anger, or frustration.  I think we could all pack a little lighter every day and I am sure we would all be ”happier if we packed light.”

Thank you for this example
of how to pee in the river
beautiful blue Herring.

Sometimes you do what you’ve got to do

So we all have to do things we are uncomfortable with right?  Well imagine being on the side of a river with no civilization in sight and having the urge to pee.  Yep, uncomfortable situation.  Then the guide informs you – if you need to pee go in the river.  What?  Ok first everyone is RIGHT THERE, second the river is kind of cold, third you are basically peeing in your clothes, and fourth… do we really need a fourth.  I mean those three are uncomfortable enough if you ask me.  But let’s be honest, needing to pee is much more uncomfortable. 

So we all braved the oddity of peeing in the river.  Some of us took forever because our body wouldn’t cooperate, some of us needed to have our hand held, some of us actually pulled down our pants, and some of us just went without much thought.  The funny thing is that by the end of the trip… we all joked about it and knew it was all part of the experience.  It was no big deal and we all knew it

So although we frequently run into uncomfortable situations in life, we just need to deal with them.  They will probably end up being no big deal in the end.

Well hello wild horses impeccably placed at Burrows Bend...
Nice timing!

Well, unfortunately, that is all I have for you tonight.  I will be back tomorrow night with more lessons from the river.

Thank you Susan at Autism Knits for these excellent photos!