Yesterday’s blog was about meeting your spouse in the middle. Basically it was an encouragement for you to find ways to help keep your spouse’s spirit of adventure alive.
Well, speaking of yesterday, I found it! I was cleaning through a huge stack of papers today—let me vent for a moment—there are about 5 sheets of paper sent home with my daughter per day. What a waste! Anyhoo—in those papers, I found a photo that used to hang on our fridge.
It’s the Zoom Flume!
You’ll remember that my husband was a guide down the Arkansas River in Colorado (Buena Vista) before we married. Well, this is one of my all-time favorite shots. You should know that he had the day off but was able to join the caravan of rafting guides that day and take us—his future father-in-law, mother-in-law, and me (future bride) down the river. He worked for Noah’s Ark. Here’s their link: http://www.noahsark.com
The funny thing about this is that when most of the other guides had family members come to visit and took them down the river, it just happened to be the day that they would dump their boat. So Richard was chided long before we all got on that raft that he was going to have to go fishing that day…Fishing after his future father-in-law, mother-in-law, and future bride. You know, to get us out of the river?! Let’s just say he was nervous.
But he actually didn’t go fishing that day at all (at least for us, remember we did help clean up lots of floaters that day from other rafts). Well done, Rich!
And maybe you’ll notice, the majority of the boat is having a lot of fun. That means…my dad and I. You see, Richard has to concentrate because the Zoom Flume is a Level III or Level IV rapid depending on the water level of the river (and it was a-flowing for our tour)…And he had to make sure he missed the right rocks and steered the right path to get us through the rapid.
He did a grand job.
My dad had confidence. I had confidence. My mom…she’s another story.
Can you see her face? It’s the best! She’s holding on for dear life while probably writing her Last Will and Testament out in her head at the same time.
Oh, and I should add, she really can’t swim all that well. Rich told us at the end of rafting that day that had my mom actually gone overboard, my dad and I would be left to fend for ourselves. He was going after my momma.
Now who wouldn’t love a man that would go after his future bride’s momma?
Sigh! Lovely.
Anyhow—This is the year before we married.
Perhaps now you can see why, for me, it is important to help him keep this same spirit alive today.
Yes…times change. Circumstances change. Lives change. But, in the end, the itch is always there for guys like this…The itch for adventure.
I always tell Rich that I’m enough of an adventure. But I know that we do truly only live once…and I definitely want to help him live his life to the fullest!
And while that might not mean guiding folks down a river (yes, he had to grow up and get a real job that actually paid for more than meals. lol!), he’s still the guide in that boat, maneuvering through the rapids, with a smile in his eyes.
And that is, after all, the man I fell in love with…and want him to be!
Hope you had a great Hump Day, folks!
Oh, and here’s the link in case you missed the original story to start: http://wp.me/p3Bh9m-dM
Hope you’ll come back tomorrow and hear about an adventure in Poland when an old granny tried to con us out of our money. Now that’s a funny story. See ya then!
Enjoy!
And 2 Makes Crazy 