Frustrations and disappointments are an unavoidable part of life. We have run into some obstacles/frustrations with getting the book “Harbor Seven,” out. It has been one step forward and three back but stay tuned…we are still moving forward. I will be posting regularly on Mondays and Thursdays as soon as the book is ready to go. In the meantime, this setback reminds me of a memory…
of a raft, a river, and an over-adventurous dad ready to take his son on a ride.
What could go wrong?
My wife, Marcia, and I decided to take our three-year-old son, Drew, on a rafting excursion down the Taylor River near Gunnison, Colorado. I know…don’t ask me to explain why. Our guide, who had led white water raft trips all over the world assured us it would be fine. He boasted that he had never fallen out of a raft and we would be okay as long as we followed one instruction: we were to lean into any obstacle in front of us.
The rafting started fast and hard. Drew was terrified and begin to scream within about 30 seconds, and moments into this thrill ride we ignored our guide’s one instruction and failed to lean into the first boulder in our path. We struck the rock dead on, spun and launched the guide like a rock out of a slingshot, into the river.
Our failure to lean into the obstacle in front of us, and to balance the raft at the moment of crisis caused us to go off course and led to our guide swallowing some water and his pride. It was an intense moment, as the river was faster than anyone had anticipated. But the truth is that things a lot worse things than the bruised reputation of our guide could have happened at that moment. And I learned that sometimes doing the most natural thing –leaning away from the rock, — can do the most damage.
When my life gets out of balance, when things get tough and I go back to what is natural…avoiding, putting off, leaning away from the obstacles that block my way, I think about that raft. And I wonder…is there anything I need to lean into today?
