My family (and by my family I mean my immediate   family, my in-laws, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, friends of friends, and everyone’s brothers and their dogs and mine, too – no joke) went on our annual river run a few weekends ago.   Much fun was had by all.

Couple things to keep in mind about the river:

1. It is cold.  As in, 49 degrees cold.  As in, with-the-wind-blowing-on-you-and-the-shade-from-trees-lining-the-banks-you-could-face-hypothermia-if-you-aren’t-careful cold.

2. It can be dangerous. But it is just the right amount of scary to be fun.

3. Sunscreen is your friend.

4. Mosquitoes as big as your head are not.

5. Life preservers are mandatory and are designed to do exactly as they are named.

With the above mentioned number of family members and friends, we take turns rafting the river, about 16 of us divided up on two rafts at a time.  When all is said and done, the rafts go down the river 5 times each day we are there, and most everyone gets to go down at least that many times.

This year was an especially monumental year in that my oldest daughter got to ride the river for the first time.  Her older brother had regaled her with numerous tales of walls of water, and rapids, and getting tossed out of the raft, that she was equal parts nervous and excited.

I, on the other hand, was mostly nervous.  She’s almost eight, and her uncle had a hard and fast rule about no one under 8 riding the river.  I was fine having her wait until next year to give my nerves another 365 days to grow accustomed to the idea of her floating down class 3 and 4 rapids with nary to protect her but an inflatable raft and some bits of foam and strapping in the form of a life vest.  Her father, however, was pleased as punch when his brother informed him that she was close enough to 8 (her birthday was a month away at the time) that he was willing to take her if we were willing to let her go.

These are the results of that decision:

You can’t see her very well, but she is sitting in the middle of the raft, enjoying the fun…..

Then they hit the wall of water above.  This particular rapid is known as Lunch Counter. Why? I don’t know exactly, but there it is.  Notice how you can’t even see the front of the raft?  My baby is completely hidden by water.

But she comes out okay and all is well, right?  Nooooo……

Do you see the flailing arms and legs there in the middle?  In the pink shorts?  That’s my girl, going head-long into the gaping jaws of this frigid river.  What you can’t see very well is that her father has come almost completely out of the raft as well, all except for his left foot that is wedged in the front right side of the raft.  You can’t see it, though. Just a flash of orange and white.

And here she is afterward, the one in the pink shirt and yellow life vest, with her dad right next to her in the black hat.  The black hat has miraculously maintained its position on his head, despite being flung into the river, unlike my daughter who did not maintain her position in the raft.  Notice her older brother, who IS still in the raft, gripping the middle for dear life.

Know who else is missing from the raft?  That would be her uncle in the straw hat, the river guide that said she was fine to ride the river, clinging to the ropes.

You should know that I was not freaked out when I got told she had been tossed.  I maintained my calm and was pleased to hear how brave she had been, how she didn’t freak out, how she followed the instructions and made sure she was facing forward with her feet out in front of her.  She told me that she wasn’t scared, she told me how she had remembered to put her feet out in front and not panic if she went under the raft, she was happy and ready to go again.  I was proud of her, and told her so.

Then I saw the pictures and didn’t want her anywhere near the river.  But I guess that is just maternal instinct for you.  She did go down several more times, none as exciting as the one pictured above (thank goodness), which is why she is happy to tell the story of how she battled the river and won over and over again.   I think it is one story we will be telling around the campfire for years to come.