Keep it Real Wednesday
April 7, 2021
Live Fearlessly
Today, I am going to tell you a story.
For Mother’s Day 2001, Wade surprised our family with a train ride on the Historic Thunder Mountain Express that weaved along the river between Horseshoe Bend and Cascade.
We eagerly boarded the train and secured our window seats to enjoy all the beautiful scenery. What a treat to experience a trip through God’s Country alongside the river, running fast with snowmelt.
At some point during our trip, a passenger tapped us on the shoulder and asked if we would be interested in taking a different form of transportation back down. He asked, “Would you like to raft back to Horseshoe Bend instead of taking the train?”
Bewildered, I said, “Excuse me?”
He asked again, “We had a cancellation and I thought your family might be interested”.
Wade took a quick tally among us and we all agreed to take the opportunity, some more readily than others. I am afraid I wasn’t too enthusiastic about the idea.
At that time, Nick (our youngest) was 4 years old, and I wasn’t sure he was old enough for such an excursion. Amanda (our oldest) was 11 and a good swimmer and I felt confident in her abilities and I knew Wade and I would be okay, but what about Rosemary?
All eyes were on her.
Then Rosemary said, “Oh what the heck, let’s do it”.
When the train stopped at the designated location to let all the rafters disembark the train, we met our rafting guide. I pulled her aside and said, “If anything happens, please take care of my Mom, I will take care of Nick, and Wade will take care of Amanda”. She agreed but I am not sure she knew the extent of what she just agreed to.
The ride was a BLAST, lots of ups and downs and water splashing everywhere. Our bellies hurt from laughing and we were soaking wet at the end.
Here’s the real kicker to this story, Rosemary can’t swim and is terrified of water.
She never learned how to swim as a child and when my father tried to teach her when they were dating, she gave him a black eye. She is PETRIFIED of open water.
But, for her grandchildren, and the once in a lifetime spur of the moment, seize the day experience of an unplanned rafting trip, Rosemary decided to live fearlessly and say YES.
I believe it’s one of the keys to happiness, at least it is for Rosemary.
Live Fearlessly.
