You know how in the movies when people have these near death experiences that they say their life flashes before their eyes? Well on Sunday I had one of these near death experiences and i have to say that I didn't see my life before my eyes but maybe it was because I was too busy trying to stay alive.
So Sunday was fathers day and my dad was in town. We decided that we wanted to go floating for the day and spend some time together. So we get in the river and the water was freezing and my feet were kinda numb but everything was going fine, it was a nice day and the water was relaxing. I am floating ahead of my dad and all of a sudden we come around this bend in the river and all I see are dead trees lining the bank. So am paddling as hard as I can to get towards the middle of the river and away from these trees but of course the current is really strong from the winter run off and is pulling me right towards them. My tube turns slightly so my back is to the trees and I hit these trees. My tube POPS! a millisecond later I am under the water and all of these trees. I tried to grab on to something to pull myself to the surface but the current is so strong I can't get a grip.
Now this is the time where I would of had one of those flashes... but nothing. I guess I subconsciously knew that I wasn't going to die or something.
So I am underwater and the water gets darker and I am like oh great I am going down farther but all of a sudden the water gets lighter and lighter and I pop out to the surface. I am still struggling to stay afloat but at least I got that breath in and I finally was able to swim to the other side of the river and climb out.
My dad was also able to get out and we hugged for like an hour and I caught my breath. So now we are in kinda a predicament. I have no tube but my dad has his and I lost my flip flops, sunglasses and the shorts to my swimming suit. My dad suggests that I use his tube to float to our car but I turned that idea down right away. So we decide that we have to walk to the highway and hitchhike to our car.
Now the highway was about a mile to a mile and a half away so we were walking for about an hour before we even caught a glimpse of the road. And in case you forgot I DON"T HAVE ANY SHOES. We were walking through pine cones and thistles and marsh so the mosquitoes were horrible. I seriously got eaten alive by them. but we finally made it to the road and back to our car.
The next day I was so sore and I had bug bites all over my body and some pretty good bruises. But I am thankful to be alive. I truly thank God for saving my life. And I suggest to everyone to not go floating in June in Montana.
Now I realize how precious life is and I value my life more than ever now.
