Blogging For Luke 21

The latest entry at How is Luke Doing is informative and heart warming. It made me think again about my interest in Luke. I cheated death twice in my life. In each case I was lucky enough to have the right people around. Here is one incident.

In The River

When I was four or five my family lived along the Haines Highway. We often crossed into Alaska to fish either in the ocean or in a river.

One day my dad was fishing for Oolichan (smelt) with a net. The rest of the family were watching. It was cold (as usual) so we had our jackets on.

We were on a gravel embankment about two feet above the fast flowing river. I was bored and began to kick the edge of the bank causing gravel to slide into the river. My dad warned me to be careful. I said I was being careful and continued to kick gravel. Suddenly the whole bank around my feet gave way and I fell into the river.

I don't remember screaming although apparently I did. I do have a vague memory of my dad running along the riverbank trying to catch up to me. I was wet, but my jacket kept me afloat. My dad caught up to me and pulled me out.

I remember walking with my family back to our car. We were in Alaska because the road was paved (the Canadian section wasn't). I distinctly remember looking behind me and seeing a long trail of wet footprints on the pavement. That image has always been with me.

Mom stripped the wet clothes off me and wrapped me in a blanket. When we got home I was embarrassed because I had no clothes and my mom wanted to carry me. I must have calmed down enough to act like a 'big boy'.

Over the years I never learned to swim well. I learned enough to survive in a pool but not enough to really feel comfortable. I guess I don't want to push my luck too much.