| So, everyone want to hear a good story?
Last night I went to bed at a decent time... I don't know, maybe 11:30. I set my alarm for 6:30 (usually I set it for 6, so I was giving myself a little bit more time to sleep in). This morning my alarm goes off at what I presume to be 6:30. I heard someone go into the bathroom; I assumed it was my sister who usually takes showers around 6:30 and I was like, okay... time to get ready. So I get ready like I normally would. On the radio they never said the time or anything so I just continued getting ready like normal. After I am completely done (so about 45 minutes later, because I decided to look semi-cute today) I look at my cell phone, which had been charging all night. The time on my cell phone read 5:18 a.m. I was like "No way" and looked at my alarm clock. My alarm clock said 7:18 a.m. So I began hoping desperately that my cell phone was wrong as I walked downstairs. I go downstairs and what do you know... no one is awake and it is 5:20 in the morning. I guess we had a power outage or something last night (or my alarm clock just hates me) and now I am suffering the consequences. Thanks a lot.
Anyway, my labor day weekend was fun. Friday I was still sick but had to babysit. The kids (who are usually fine) were especially bratty and so I put them to bed early and did Calculus homework until the mom got home. She was really late coming in (I think she sings at a bar or something... weird) and so she paid me 15 dollars extra.... that was exciting. Saturday morning I woke up early and drove up to the Tennessee/Georgia border for my cousin's b-day.
I know that when most people turn 21 they go out and get completely drunk, because they can. Well... you all know me so you can imagine what my family is like... we don't do the whole drinking thing (not that my parents and uncles and older cousins don't drink, it's just not like a cool thing to do). So for her 21st b-day my cousin Chrissi opted to go whitewater rafting down the Ocoee River with me, my mom, my bro, my sis, her sisters (Ashley and Buff age 18), her boyfriend (Tim), her parents, her brother and his girlfriend (Andrew and Tanya), her sister's friend (Audrey), my other cousin (Meredith), and my aunt (Theresa).
If you have never been whitewater rafting before it is my new favorite thing to do!!! It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun!!!! My little raft group was me, Jim (my lil bro), Laura (my sis), Chrissi and Tim. We had a guide named Chris and a guide-in-training named William. William was cool... he had been a guide a long time ago but then went and served 6 years in the marines and now was having to get re-certified. Our ride was fun but there were lots of little things that went wrong, which I found hilarious.
Example: Jim and Laura were sitting in the front of our raft and when we went into the first class 4 rapid (rapid classes range from 1-6) both of them went flying out of the raft at the same time. When Laura hit the water she was immediately swept downstream by the current before we had a chance to grab her. Jim landed near the raft so Tim reached and grabbed his foot. While he was holding Jim's foot, Jim's face was stuck under the water so Tim let go so Jim could breathe, which I thought was very thoughtful. (hehehe) Then Jim was swept downstream. I was on the verge of freaking out (because I am an oldest child and would feel responsible for their deaths) but then I remembered the little speech William gave us after the safety speech which went something like this: I know you are all thinking "Oh my gosh, I am going to die on the river. Well, the fact of the matter is that in our 20 years of being open we have never had anyone die on the river or even be seriously injured. The odds are that you are more likely to get in a car wreck driving to the river than you are to get hurt on the river itself." So I then began thinking "It's all going to be okay, we're not going to die" as we paddled down the river to save Jim and Laura. (By the way, they were both fine... Laura had a little scrape on her knee and was scared but they were good to go).
Example 2: Okay, a little past the halfway point we had my personal favorite occurance of the venture. We were heading into a class 4 rapid and Chris says to William, "Do you wanna take (meaning steer) this one." William says, "Yeah, I think I can handle it." At this point Chrissi and I look at each other like, "Great, we're going to die." Then I start saying to myself, "It's all going to be okay, we're not going to die." William takes the helm and says, "Forward, hard." So we all begin paddling forward hard like there is no tomorrow. Not long thereafter we got stuck on a huge rock/boulder-type-thing. Both guides yell at us to get in the back of the boat (which is sticking straight up in the air at this point) so we do. Our backs were to the guides. They eventually shove us off the rock and then we all go back to our rowing positions (with our backs to the guides). We are all leaning forward, waiting for a command.... but none comes. So Chrissi and I look back and I just start cracking up. When they had pushed us off the rock, each guide thought that the other was still in the boat with us so when we started floating down throught the rest of the rapid, there was no guide in our boat. Laura began freaking out, I was laughing hysterically, and Chrissi just shook her head. Luckily there was another raft near us so the guide in that one steered us over to the shore where we waited until our guides floated downstream...
Needless to say, I don't think William passed his training test.
Well, it's now 5:50 a.m. I think I'll go sleep for another hour and a half until I need to get up for breakfast. |
