Dreaming of Summer

It's February and today I find myself pining for warmer weather. In all honesty, it's a nice day today, warm, sunny and reminiscent of early Spring, but being stuck in the house during the long winter months always takes my mind back to the special days of summer in the Rockies.

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River. My husband and I are what rafting guides call double dippers, meaning we like to raft through the Royal Gorge (Class 4 and 5 white water) two times in one day. It is tiring, exhausting, but from the minute my backside sits down in the raft there is an ear to ear grin on my face.

A few years ago we had taken some of our friends to the Gorge for a day of rafting and on the last time through something happened and my husband and I were both thrown out of the boat. I carried my oar with me like a good little rafter should, and in doing so hit another girl in the face and broke her nose. (She later thanked me because she wanted to get a nose job anyway! Who knew?)  I went to the bottom of the river and hit my jaw on a boulder and couldn't open my mouth for several hours without pain, and also broke three ribs. Luckily my husband wasn't hurt but I was almost frozen by the time we actually got out of the water.

I lifted my oar to one of the rafters for so they could help me out of the water. She didn't know what to do. Finally the guide, a young lady I would never want to tangle with (she was fierce) let out a few expletives and pushed people out of the way and lifted me out of the water and began to wrap me in warm, dry clothes.

But you know something? As awful as it was and as frightened as I was, I would get back out on the water again tomorrow if I could. It's the BEST TIME EVER!

When I write I try to incorporate life experiences into some of my stories. Can you imagine my Victorian ladies, Susan, Faerie and Augusta on a rafting trip in the appropriate dress of their day? What a word picture!

Anyway...can't wait for summer, but for now I have my dreams.

Until next time,

Hazel

Picture from Lake Tahoe, another of my favorite summertime memories.