Last weekend my good friend Bo came to town with his family and invited me to go white water rafting with them down the Chattahoochee, and I gladly accepted the offer. It's the largest urban white water course in North America, and sits right in the heart of downtown Columbus. Because the downtown area is one of my favorite spots in the city, I've watched countless people try out the course (and make it out unscathed) but there was still a pit of anxiety forming in my stomach as our turn came nearer.
As much as I wish I was, I am so NOT adventurous. I like having a plan and knowing what's going on and you'll never catch me sky-diving or bungee jumping. It also didn't help that I had just read a news story about a man drowning in the river a few days before. But I tried to suppress those thoughts as I put on my helmet and life jacket and grabbed a paddle.
On the bus ride over to the starting point, it started to rain. Like really rain. Which made me nervous all over again. We met our guide "Big Red" (given name Nicholas) at the bank of the river and loaded our raft into the water. Bo kindly volunteered the two of us to sit in the front (against my will, I might add). As we started floating down the river, I actually started to relax a little (weird right?!), as Big Red started giving us a history of Columbus. When we hit our first rapid, a level 1, we came right out with no issues and I was suddenly ready for everything the river could throw at me. Or so I thought.
We hit two more rapids, and both went as smoothly as our first. We were approaching the legendary last rapid Cutbait, but I felt confident. We had already conquered three other rapids!
We approached the giant wave with raindrops pelting our faces and paddled hard. As we made our peak without flipping over a wave of relief swept over all of us. We then looked up to see the second wave, twice as big as the first, rolling towards us, and then all of a sudden I couldn't see anything.
I felt the raft slant up and my feet came out from under me. I fell back and knocked into Bo's little sister Emma, who then fell into his mom and we were all three out of the boat. The same thing happened on Bo's side and he and his sister knocked our guide into the water, and only his dad was left in the boat. My biggest fear had become a reality. We were in the water at the roughest, rockiest part of the river, and our guide was in there with us.
Falling backwards into the water is so disorienting. It took me what felt like minutes to figure out how to get my head above water (thank you life jacket) and as I took a breath I was swept back under. I made my way up again and then felt myself slam into the rocks. I slid across them and banged up my ankle, and then I was under the water again. Gasping for breath, I ended up swallowing more water than air (I threw up river water later that night). I finally felt the water calm and we were out of the rapid. Our guide had miraculously made it back onto the raft and was asking me for my paddle to pull me back on. And then I realized that I no longer had my paddle. Oops. Thankfully Bo saw it and grabbed it and me and I somehow made it back onto our raft.
As I caught my breath I processed what had just happened. Yes, it was terrifying and I got a little bruised, but I survived. I faced my biggest fear about the day and came out on top. As we all realized what had just happened, laughter filled the raft. We had done it, and now had a great story to tell.
xoxo,
Rachel
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." -Deuteronomy 31:6
“There is no illusion greater than fear.” -Lao Tzu
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