River Tao

I just got home from a work retreat where colleagues of mine met in Richmond, Virginia for 2 days of marketing planning discussion, followed by an afternoon tubing adventure down the James River.

This is our "Before" picture...

The River Guide Company thought it might take 3 hours from where they dropped us to where they were picking us up. When we entered the river, it was very very still and I don't think anyone thought we'd get to where we wanted to end up by mere floating. So we paddled with our hands.

"Does it even feel like we're moving?" my colleague Karen said to me. It didn't, even with our paddling, it felt like we were staying in one place, until we tweaked our 'marine vessel strategy' by lifting our rear ends a bit to be a bit more aerodynamic.

Over two hours into our journey, right before the area we were getting picked up, we suddenly ended up in a faster part of the river. During the 'rapids', we had a couple casualties: The cooler (and its contents) tipped, and I went the wrong way around a big rock, lost my shoe, and ended up going in a different area from where my colleagues were.

"Going with the flow" takes on a whole new meaning when you are in an inner tube, paddling with your hands, and going against the river to get back to where you want to go. I laughed to think of how true that statement is, as I beached myself on a rock, trying to figure out how to get to where my colleagues were.

Earlier that day I had seen a quote from J.K. Rowlings, referring to the time of her life when she began to write Harry Potter. She was a single mother, on welfare, and her mother just died, and quite likely she felt like she was in a stagnant river.

"Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve. I was determined to try. I was determined to try because, frankly, my life was such a mess at this point, what - what was the worst that could happen? Everyone turn me down? Big deal."

Sometimes it's about going with the stream, and sometimes it's about action!

With my one shoe on, and inner tube in hand, I less-than-swan-like climbed over the rocks, and began swimming across the river against the current until my colleague Andrew waded out, extended his hand and gave me a toe in.

And sometimes it's about a little help from your friends....