Whatever You Do Don't Grab That Branch

 

Everyone at the ranch was excited about the opportunity to go tubing. The nearby river, that was usually too shallow, was swelled by recent rains, and just high enough for a good ride.  I had great memories of lazily floating on an old car tire inner tube down the deep, meandering, waters of the Fox River back home.  Those memories began to fade when I saw them loading the gigantic tractor sized inner tubes into the horse trailer.  The memories disappeared completely when I saw the river. This deep water wasn’t calm and smooth it was swirling and dark with a relentless canyon carving flow.  

As she was holding the tube so I could climb on, my friend told me to just hang on and down around the bend the current would wash the tubes up onto a sandbar.  The trucks would wait for us there. Knowing I was inexperienced she added, “Whatever you do don’t grab a branch if you get close to the shore, if you are afraid of getting hit by one just duck down as low as you can into the center of the tube”.

With that said she pushed me out into the current.  I couldn’t believe how fast I was going, spinning with the swirling current then bouncing across small bubbling rapids that formed between the scattered boulders.  Suddenly I was headed toward the riverbank where there were overhanging branches.  I remembered the part about ducking but as I sank lower into the center of the tube I felt myself slipping.  Instinctivley I reached for a branch to pull myself up.  It only took a split second to realize why I should have remembered the 1st part of the warning as the rushing current pulled the tube right out from under me.  The branch and my grip were not strong enough to hold me and I splashed into the icy cold water.  Immediately I felt myself being pushed sideways instead of sinking to the bottom.  The sideways momentum gradually brought me to the surface not far from my tube.  I grabbed it and finished the ride clinging to its side and being dragged up onto the sandbar like a fish on a line.

The moral of the story:  When we feel out of control, sometimes we need to fight our first instincts and heed the warnings that come from experience, otherwise we may find ourselves in over our heads.