River of Love

...

nailed in the head by a heavy rain drop. Looking up I saw an awesome display of clouds, dark and brooding. Wind began to howl through the empty parking lot. I realized we were alone, not a single other person was here to go tubing. It seemed we had been the only ones that failed to check the weather forecast that day. Amelia returned from the bathroom, now changed into her swimming gear, "Guess we don’t need the sunscreen" was her only comment on the weather.

The river looked not particularly inviting, the flow of the water was interrupted here and there by sharp rocks and sunken logs sticking up out of the water. At this point our stubbornness was the only thing driving us into the water, the frigid runoff of the Wenatchee River had clearly not had enough time in the sun that day. The rafting itself was not exactly as relaxing as I had hoped. The low water level meant it was impossible to lay back and relax, as we had to constantly dodge islands of gravel and tree branches. About 5 minutes in Amelia yelled out and fell into the water, her tire sank, filling quickly with water through the puncture wound inflicted in the side. At this point we should have gone home, but we hadn’t even made it half way around the loop, so we did what any couple would do and tried to share my tire.

For the next hour we performed a balancing act, stacking ourselves into this tiny tire, kicking and flapping back and forth desperately trying to avoid the obstacles in our way. Again and again we were dunked into the icy water, choking on water as we immerged laughing. It had been a wonderful day I thought as we shivered back to the car. It had been our first day trip together as a couple and we were determined to do it right. We had both failed to see the warning signs, but hadn’t let the repeated shortcomings ruin a good time. We managed to find the humor in every situation and used to have a good time.