Day 19

For the first time since day one, we actually got to sleep in. I didn’t have to wake up until 7! Sleep is something I have always taken for granted. Out here, time is something completely different. Of course we have watches we are constantly eye-balling and classes and lessons to be taught each day, but the time gets away from you. It has gotten to the point on the expedition where I am having trouble distinguishing the days. Days are so long on the river that this morning seems like last week and dinner seems like it happened yesterday. Looking back, you forget what made the day or made it a total wreck. I wonder, was it watching each of us fall thigh-deep into the bog as we struggled to lift our packs out of the canoes and onto our backs? Was it Jack Frost slapping us in the face as we attempt to control an unruly canoe across a wide span of unruly water? Was it the enormous pine practically snapping underneath the weight of a long-lived-in eagle nest?

                We settle into camp after these long days and reminisce on the day now behind us. We look around our debriefing circle waiting for the person across from us to speak up first, wondering what direction we’ll take in reliving the day. We already know what will be remembered, and what will be remembered is what made the day totally terrible or totally great. But instead of evaluating our day in terms of the skills we’re trying to practice, we take the first seconds to share a laugh (The humor in this group is top-notch). We also look around the circle and we see our friends, all of whom are feeling the same things we are. Tonight, we shared even deeper feelings than just any other night. I am getting to know every single person here on a level I never expected. I can feel myself opening up to this group and becoming more to this group than I ever even wanted.

As we all share our stories over the next couple weeks, who know what we’ll learn or what we’ll share. When the days run together and the stories all sound the same, we can hold onto these people around us. At least these people won’t change like the weather does (or maybe they will). Looking back we will know that what we do here together is all adding to our life story.

Cassidy Depoy