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This is Going to be Good

/ Sloan / Leave a comment

I’ve always been good at procrastinating. Shit just gets done easier when there’s A LOT to do and a little time. When I have two jobs, class, volunteer responsibilities, and a training plan to follow I am happier, healthier, in better shape. I’m generally amazed at what I can accomplish. When I have three weeks to ‘get everything done’ nothing gets’ done.

            I sit here on a Saturday afternoon putzing around not cleaning, not packing, not getting ready to once again move my life. D-day is tomorrow and my suitcase of clothes and bag of shoes sit in ruins around my mother’s spare bedroom. After this post, I swear I’ll start the laundry and begin rolling my clothes to make them all fit as much as I’d rather kick back and not, I will, I must.

 

Back to Maryland. Thank god. Once there I won’t get crazy looks when I get carded at the bar and whip out my random Maryland driver’s license.  I’ll live near a lake, near the mountains and have work that will keep me busy and active, and hopefully another job that will keep me on my feet and social. I’ll play in the woods, paddle around the lake and explore the productive side of me that I have missed for way too long.

            Tomorrow I say goodbye to the flat lands of the mid-west, goodbye to the lake that stretches for miles and goodbye to my friends and family that have supported me. I’m excited and nervous and ready to embark on this new journey. I’m excited to say hello to the mountains, make new friends and reconnect with some old ones. This is good. This is going to be really good.

What a stranged shaped state

What a stranged shaped state

**More on where, why, and what next week. NOT back to Baltimore, I’ll give ya that much!***

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Paddle High Five!!

/ Sloan / 2 Comments

When life hands you a paddle you better dig it in the river and paddle as hard as you can! This weekend I spent Sunday in Ohiopyle, PA(yes, that’s really the name of the town!) and was able to get on the Lower Yough and have a turn at some white water for the first time. It was a-mazzzzing! I might be addicted and need to commit to doing this more often.

These guides are incredible, they practically live on the river, ride it daily and know its twists and turns as well as they know the layout of the furniture in the houses they grew up in. But just like life, the river changes—throws the rider over a rock, through a rapid or it rains and the river completely changes it outfit and goes from a level 3 rapid to a level 4 or 5 and tosses the riders for an even bigger ride and you have to adapt. You have to take it, you have to dig the paddle and even if you get air and miss the water completely you’re still trying, still moving forward, and still paddling.

The power behind one good push and paddle is empowering. As the rain fell, (because it rained the whole 7 miles down the river) and drops fell from my helmet, my arms used every muscle, each pull they flexed and I sweat and the 17 year old high school girl and I agreed that we felt pretty bad ass going down rapids on a Sunday afternoon in the thunder and rain. At one point we hit a rock and she and I both went flying—the river was cold, rocky, and rough but our team pulled us out and we started paddling again. Because that’s what you do. You keep going. I repeat. You keep going.

Who knew Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania would show me so much? The river would be a perfect metaphor for my life, your life and life in general. Paddle on friends, paddle on!

 

Check out my Facebook page to see video of us riding down the Dimple!