Whitewater Grannies by Carmen Beecher

Donna, Carol, Denette, Carmen

One year when we went on our artists' retreat to Carol's house in North Carolina, several of us decided to go whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River. After a very brief briefing, we set forth (no one told us that helmets would be a good idea). Off we went, gaining confidence with each stroke and completely forgetting our one admonition was to "stay to the right." We were gloating about being the only grandmothers on the river, and commenting about a boat that kept getting in our way. We were way down the river when we forgot to stay to the right and went into the "Slot," which stood our raft on end.

The laws of physics being what they are, we flew out of the raft, and Donna and I were on the wrong side of the river and had to be rescued by--of course--the folks we criticized earlier! You can see below that though we looked like drowned rats, we were very happy. Getting to live another day is always worth smiling about!