Current

I have some photos to show you (I think) but my kids have escaped into the neighbor's backyard, so I will have to update this post later.

We were talking talking talking, the other women and I, just like a cliched flock of hens: talking talking talking, so that we ran aground in the cattails. I shared a raft with the Woman Who Drinks Only Water and Alcohol, but since between us we had just one paddle, I climbed out to push -- and sunk several inches into the muck. Giggle. The firefighter's wife, who had rolled off her mattress to push, too, lost a flipflop to the stuff. Giggle. We ran aground twice more and once had to half-swim against the wind, which was strong enough to blow our floats back upstream; but our trip was not really marked by excitement. We leaned back and talked talked talked talked.

A few years ago the city built a new bridge over the Deschutes River to accommodate all the new houses on the south end. Round about the same time, they legalized* swimming in the river. Almost immediately, floating down the Deschutes became Bend's greatest past-time.

Most of the people who float the river in summer are, as you'd expect, teenagers; but families float, too. My dad bought a six-person raft and has taken Blake once and both kids once. (The
river is quite cold, but Blake would rather be in the water, buoyed by his lifejacket, than sit peacefully in the raft. It's easier to take him alone.) And then late afternoon Wednesday, my girlfriends and I -- five of us altogether -- spent an hour and a half relaxing into the current.

My husband left work early that afternoon to take the kids off my hands. I cleaned the house as much as possible and had some dinner ideas for him, but they abandoned all that when my dad showed up, and instead they all drove to Mt. Bachelor, where they joined a lot of other astronomy buffs.

I know that many places on this earth are beautiful and beloved by its people, but I tell you: I hope I am able to live the rest of my life here.


*At least, I think so. My husband tells stories of getting busted for swimming in the river back when he was young.