| To this day I can't explain why I am still alive. I | | | | We walked near the edge of the bank and could |
| should be dead. My mother and I were visiting my | | | | see that the flood waters had eaten away the |
| grandmother and uncle, during my summer | | | | bank a bit, weakening its stability. I had been |
| vacation. I was about 10 years old . They lived in | | | | warned to be careful not to walk too close to the |
| a very rural area. The valley where they lived | | | | edge, since it could be unstable.What I recall next |
| was quite narrow, running north to south. It might | | | | is a bit like a series of snapshots or flashes. I sort |
| have taken 5 minutes to drive from one side to | | | | of remember the bank below me suddenly |
| the other and both sides of this valley, were | | | | breaking away. I sensed that falling panicky feeling. |
| heavily forested. The western mountain side, | | | | There was a mad grab for the creek bank. I |
| very green and wet and the eastern side a bit | | | | recall flashes of trying to grab roots sticking out |
| drier.A creek snaked its way along the length of | | | | of the creek's bank. All these flashes happening in |
| the valley. It was fed by the melting snow and ice | | | | a blink of an eye. And then click. I was sleeping. I |
| from the nearby towering mountains. In spring | | | | was dreaming. That warm fuzzy sleep feeling you |
| time the creek became a raging torrent of water, | | | | get, when you are in the most comfortable bed |
| several times its summer time width. Very often | | | | and are only half awake. I was suddenly |
| it would flood the bottom of the valley, where | | | | surrounded by a pastel light green haze. No more |
| the fertile farm land was located. Grandmother's | | | | awareness of any thing else. Just floating, |
| farm was often flooded in spring time, if the | | | | dreaming, and comfortable, in my own little green |
| weather suddenly became hot. This would cause | | | | nirvana.The next thing I remember was my |
| rapid snow melt, feeding the creek, making it turn | | | | mother pulling me up the bank by the arm. I was |
| into a huge monstrous torrent of ever expanding | | | | all wet, cold and muddy. I have no real memory |
| water.By summer time the creek settled down, | | | | of what was going on in the real world, outside |
| to a fraction of its spring time size. There was a | | | | me, during my time in the fishing pool.From what |
| highway lane size, main current area, flanked by | | | | my mother told me, I understand that she |
| side pools fed by streamlets. These side pools | | | | couldn't get to me. She didn't know how to swim |
| had been dug by the spring flood waters. A lot of | | | | herself. All she could do was yell to me to kick or |
| the river bank was undermined by the same | | | | tread water. She also told me to raise my arm so |
| water power, that had dredged the side pools.It | | | | she could pull me up the creek bank. I don't recall |
| was a hot summer day. My mother and I set out | | | | any of that. It's all blank.I remember taking a nice |
| to go fishing at the creek. We trekked across a | | | | hot bath later, to warm up. The water in the tub |
| field, then through some brush, to gain access to | | | | was just fine. Any thing deeper is not for |
| the creek. I was carrying a fishing rod and a can | | | | me.That event taught me a healthy respect for |
| of worms, to be used as fishing bait. There was a | | | | warnings about river banks, which could cave in. I |
| rough trail at the edge of the creek, leading | | | | have since gone fishing in a boat, but never by a |
| towards where one of the fishing pools sparkled. | | | | creek again. |