For the past couple of weeks, I have not been as active as I would prefer in sharing and posting new information, but it is with very good reason. We've had the great joy of having out of state family coming to spend time with us, and I also dislocated my right shoulder during one of those visits. I'm now in the process of recovery and working towards getting back full mobility of my arm. I wanted to share here the post I wrote for my other blog Along Life's Journey and add to this post some links and a picture of the main natural products I have been using for pain and healing during my recovery.
Learning Opportunity at the Poudre River
July 31, 2017, by MaryAnn Broussard
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience
in which you really stop to look fear in the face."
--Eleanor Roosevelt
Reflections from an ever learning sojourner...
I believe that some of the greatest life lessons with the most growth potential initially come wrapped in not so pretty and very messy packages that we would prefer not be gifted to us. A few days ago, I was given one of these learning opportunities.
Two of my children, Braden and Madison, were home for a few days' visit and Braden's fiancé, Alyssa, was also here with him. We thought it would be a fun adventure to buy some intertubes from Big O Tires and tube down the Poudre River in the Poudre Canyon. My husband, Michael, and I had seen people doing this last summer and it looked like so much fun! We even scoped out the river the day before to decide the furthest possible point of entry to avoid the spillways and take a look at the speed of the current. At that time, I made mental notes that there were a couple of areas where the rocks were too abundant and jagged creating turbulent rapids, and that I preferred not to tube through those. I also made a point to express to the family that we had to have good shoes on to protect our feet from the rocks. My expressed concerns about the rapids and jagged rocks and the importance for shoes were a little poo pooed at first as if I was being overly cautious, but I paid no mind to the skeptical looks I received from some of my family members. I'm a mom, and it's in my nature to protect those I love and to be wisely prepared for the unknown, especially because in the Poudre Canyon there is no cell phone service whatsoever (with any provider). So unless you find that rare call box somewhere along the long stretch there is no ability to call for emergency personnel in case of an emergency.
