The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Blog Post #1- Your Words Become Mine

Boiling Hole

"I didn't know what to feel." (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, page 89, paragraph 5)

I stared down at the roaring water below, my heart thumping. That was Boiling Hole, the big rapid on the Mayo River that we might run now. I was scared but excited at the same time. I could barely hear anything around me over the whitewater. I'm standing on a rock overlooking the rapid, scouting it out to see which route I should take. I know I had been planning on running it, but now that I could actually see it, and see that the drop looked maybe two feet, I was starting to question the sanity in my decision. "Hey, who's gonna run it?" I asked my fellow campers. "I think I will," said one of the guys, "but we'll see." I was getting nervous, with sweaty palms and my heart hammering against my ribcage. I had never gone down anything that looked that big and because it was a hole, if I flipped and had to do a wet exit, I could get stuck in the hole. I didn't want to flip, and I personally don't think anybody wants to flip in a kayak, unless they are trying to do a trick of some sort. "Okay! If you're going to run it, come now with us to get in your boats!" called one of my counselors. "Do you think I can do it?" I asked. "I don't know," he said, "it's about what you think you are ready to do." He started walking to the put in. Three other campers followed him. I started to cringe. Should I do it? Can I do it? Am I ready? Will I flip? Small tears flowed down my cheeks. I didn't know what to do. I decided to watch some other people go down the rapid first. So far, both of my counselors had made it down and were waiting at the bottom for the others. I paced back and forth on the rock, watching as another camper came down. Finally, I stopped. I can do it, I thought. I started walking to my boat. I can do it. I got in, and pulled on my spray skirt. As I pushed off into the water, I thought to myself, if I flip, I just get out of the boat and get a little wet. Water can't hurt me. I started paddling down river towards the hole. My heart felt like it was going to break out of my chest. I saw the drop ahead. There's no turning back now, I realized. I paddled with the water and saw the hole right below me. Suddenly, my boat dropped and I felt cold water rush onto my legs through the spray skirt. I looked around saw my campers around me in boats. I breathed in and out. I breathed air. I was above the water. Everything was fine. I paddled over to the others thinking to myself, that wasn't so bad, was it? I felt on top of the world, like I could go down any rapid.

Why I Chose the Quote

I chose that line from my book because in new and sometimes scary situations, you don't know how to react or you don't know if you should feel a certain way. If you know you can survive the situation, like me going down that rapid, sometimes it's just better to go for it and take the leap so you don't let your fear control everything you do.