Snowglobe
I was practically born on the river with a yellow sun hat flopped over my eyes and ten delicate fingers tucked around straps to keep myself secure, not sure whether to laugh or cry at the waves pounding the front seat of my father’s raft where I played co-pilot. The river has always been a part of my life but several years ago I got to go on my first Grand Canyon river trip. This trip gave me a new perspective of the world.
There was an excitement that surrounded a Grand trip different from any ordinary river trip. Whether it was the mystery of a trip that young children weren’t allowed to go on, the feeling of seniority over my peers because I was finally old enough and skilled enough to go, or the anticipation of whitewater that exaggerated stories had been told about year after year, the Grand was something special, even before I went.
Though the scenery and rapids were unprecedented, the beginning of the trip was quite ordinary: sweltering and filthy, tranquil and dutiful. Then my typical river mentality was unexpectedly interrupted midway through the trip by a revelation, an epiphany that has propelled my …show more content…
Like a reflection in the sky of the river resting beside me. A stream of stars squeezed between the tall canyon walls that acted like banks. It was this image that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had amputated myself from society and after looking up at that river of night for long enough, I realized how insignificant my life back in civilization was. The stresses of grades, friends, popularity, appearance, the future ceased to exist because I was okay with sponge baths in the cold water, an inflatable pad for a mattress, and no communication besides face to face conversation. All the things I relied on so heavily for “survival” back home were all artificial. I knew this because I was happy, thinking, and everything that I searched to be back home, without ever achieving straight-A’s, popularity, or great
I was practically born on the river with a yellow sun hat flopped over my eyes and ten delicate fingers tucked around straps to keep myself secure, not sure whether to laugh or cry at the waves pounding the front seat of my father’s raft where I played co-pilot. The river has always been a part of my life but several years ago I got to go on my first Grand Canyon river trip. This trip gave me a new perspective of the world.
There was an excitement that surrounded a Grand trip different from any ordinary river trip. Whether it was the mystery of a trip that young children weren’t allowed to go on, the feeling of seniority over my peers because I was finally old enough and skilled enough to go, or the anticipation of whitewater that exaggerated stories had been told about year after year, the Grand was something special, even before I went.
Though the scenery and rapids were unprecedented, the beginning of the trip was quite ordinary: sweltering and filthy, tranquil and dutiful. Then my typical river mentality was unexpectedly interrupted midway through the trip by a revelation, an epiphany that has propelled my …show more content…
Like a reflection in the sky of the river resting beside me. A stream of stars squeezed between the tall canyon walls that acted like banks. It was this image that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had amputated myself from society and after looking up at that river of night for long enough, I realized how insignificant my life back in civilization was. The stresses of grades, friends, popularity, appearance, the future ceased to exist because I was okay with sponge baths in the cold water, an inflatable pad for a mattress, and no communication besides face to face conversation. All the things I relied on so heavily for “survival” back home were all artificial. I knew this because I was happy, thinking, and everything that I searched to be back home, without ever achieving straight-A’s, popularity, or great