The Wrong Side

I remember hearing someone say that he sure got out of bed on the wrong side, or he is on the wrong side of that question or the wrong side of the law. I didn’t really remember in what context the saying was always being used. Most generally it was that someone or other had gotten out of bed on the wrong side. I wasn’t really worried about me because there was only one way I could get out of my bed. It was up against the wall. One time I was told that I had gotten out of bed on the wrong side, and then it was explained to me what it meant.

Amy on the river trip
I was reminded of this saying when I was thinking of a river trip, I took with my daughter Amy. She was fearless, actually, she was really quite scared, but you would never know it. She was willing to try anything on the trip. She was really very brave. After hanging on through all of the rapids and coming to the last fun rapid that people were allowed to float through, she was game and wanted to do it also. I cut the motor and told all that wanted to float through the rapid to slide off the side and they could float through. Off they all went, off the left side of the boat towards the river, and off Amy went off the right side into a very strong eddy. It was the wrong side. I watched as she went around and around. She had her life jacket on, and her head was above water. She was safe but didn’t know it. She was terrified as she kept going around and around and not getting back out into the main current of the river.

We were able to finally get her back in the boat. It was hard because we needed to run the motor and the current was fast, and I was afraid of getting too close to her with the motor going because of the propeller. She finally made it into the boat and felt safe. She had been sure she was going to drown.  She had gotten off on the wrong side of the boat. It was not her fault but mine. I hadn’t let her know to go around to the left side of the boat.

It seems to me that Amy has always been willing to try new things. It is pretty much the same with all of my children. This year in school they will all be trying education in a little different way, or in a large way. Carl, Anna, Amy and Nathan are all in the education field. It is interesting to me that all of their spouses are also involved in education. It will be exciting and scary at the same time. I am happy that I am retired and not going to try to figure out how to operate in a new school year.


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