The creek was long. You all know that. The creek was wide. The day was passing and the water was gross and we were working hard to get the survey done without messing it up and praying we would never have to come back and redo it. Funny thing about daylight and this chapter – both have an ending.
Some of you might be disappointed that the ending is coming. Some of you might be sitting on the edge of your seats. Well, what began to happen changed, forever, the way I would look at what we did. We had completed the survey and were packing it in when I noticed that the sun was beginning to go down behind the cypress trees in the distance.
The silhouette of the black tree line against the orange ball that was the sun was both beautiful and awful. Immediately I said to John that we should hurry. John, once again sharing words of wisdom and horror, said that we were lucky we didn’t have a flashlight – that alligators were nocturnal feeders and that the eyes lined up on the banks would scare us to death. John is such a comfort.
I wondered to myself if he meant to say that out loud. John knows more about working in swamps than we do but he also has a story about getting bitten by a moccasin that we don’t. You see, we were chest deep in nasty water pushing the canoes filled with equipment upstream as the sunlight faded. My initial reaction was to call my husband.
Usually Scott doesn’t worry too much about me – or at least that’s how it seems. I was more worried that I would not make it whole back to the canoe launch. I was really scared. I called and told him what was going on and that if he didn’t hear from me in an hour – I just wanted to let him know that I loved him and to kiss the kids for me. I wondered, as I hung up, if he had taken me seriously. I wondered why I decided I could do this. I also wondered how much life insurance I had.
The funny thing about darkness is that it is just that. It’s dark. We all know from our childhood that very terrible things lurk in the darkness. It doesn’t matter how old you get, you still believe in some things. I believed that this was a very serious situation and that I was sincerely afraid. I tried to sound flippant and keep Kristen laughing. I knew she was walking in holes over her head. I knew that every other footstep brought an unknown bottom that might hold a fallen and rotting tree and its branches.
I knew that the darkness was coming and we weren’t going to make it back before it fell. The fear that gripped me was overwhelming. I found myself gripping the side of the canoe even harder. I began trying not to touch the bottom. I started to make funny comments in a nervous voice. I started to panic.
It’s pretty obvious that we made it back. It’s probably not as obvious what followed us back to the launch. I can’t say when I noticed it. I only know that it is here, with me now as I write this chapter. It has been with me ever since that first survey. It seeps into the room when I am otherwise occupied. It takes me over some days.
It’s what followed us back to the launch that day that I miss the most sometimes sitting here at the kitchen counter writing. It’s that notion that anything could have happened and didn’t. It’s the feeling that you escaped, and cheated death. It’s knowing that there are two people who you don’t have to ask to watch out for you. It’s a part of me that is slowly dying. A part of my soul that is starving. A corner of my heart that is crumbling slowly and rotting.
Here, on this Halloween night, it’s what scares me more than the ghouls and monsters. It scares me even more that the fear of the things I couldn’t see as that sun went down behind the tree line. I can’t face my fear of it.
That I might lose the Team! Forever! Does that ever scare you?
Well written and interesting!! You ladies are so hardcore!
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Thanks! It’s hard to believe that we do what we do – but we do!! AND WE LOVE IT. Thanks so much for being here and being a part of this journey! Means a lot to us.
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are you not getting my comments??
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I reply to all comments that I mediate. You know I love your comments!! ALWAYS….you are one of the pioneering women this site is all about baby!
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You write well and I read through all three parts captivated. Thank you for the trip! I work in a completely different environment but have found over the years that most people fear the forest, day or night. Funny because I feel very at home there but, I didn’t always. I was introduced to the “out there” slowly over several years when I was much younger. I’ve decided to try to share that education with kids now. Scouting has been the best venue for that but not the only one. Because of our family structure, first it was Girl Scouts and now Boy Scouts. Not everyone takes to the forest with enthusiasm and some I’ve noticed are swayed by parental apprehensions. One of the best exercises we’ve ever done (when we can get parents to participate) is to line kids up on a woods road at night with two adults in attendance. Call this the start line. Two more adults station themselves about 200 feet down the road. Call this the finish line. I used a straight, cleared section of road. Then one at a time the kids are sent silently, walking down the road to the finish line by themselves. Seems easy enough and is safe because most nights there is ample moon / star light to see solid black figures moving on the road. Did I mention?… NO flashlights allowed except those carried by adults for safety. Kids will talk about this experience for hours and sometimes days! Oddly enough, the hardest part is finding enough adults willing (brave enough) to assist! But I think there have been a few converts over the years… who now know, understand and maybe even love the woods… at night! Thanks again for your story,
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I am excited that you enjoy the stories. They are all true. At least the way I experienced it. Your exercise with the kids is interesting. Courage is something kids have easier access to than adults. We bury most of it under bills, and work, stress, and the fear of pain and the unknown….we get too secure and forget what it was like to not know what was out in the dark. I’ll bet you could do the same exercise with adults in a slightly different setting and they, too, would talk about it for days!! Now, there’s an idea….thanks so much for stopping in and reading. I eat books and have really enjoyed writing and I sure saved a bunch of money so far! I also enjoy reading what I wrote – funny how you remember things as you write…makes it all an adventure all over again! Hope to see you here soon.
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