On that trip ten years ago, Emily’s main goal for the trip was to swim with the dolphins.  Her little brother, whose only illness that trip was a four-inch square severe sunburn where we had missed with the sunscreen, was able to go… and, gosh darnit, he wasn’t even all that excited about it.

How about dolphin (and whale) songs?—

When Emily was eight-years-old, we traveled to Colorado for a family reunion. (Incidentally, during that trip I finished the song, Listen to Me Breathe, which is on The 15th Floor’s album, From the Dining Room.) My father was undergoing chemotherapy for advanced colon cancer and this was his last hurrah. One of the highlights of the reunion was a river rafting trip.

Because of the chemo, my father was not feeling particularly well, but stoically managed to participate fully and enjoy himself—I am sure well entertained by our bumbling rafting expertise. Emily, by far the youngest to participate, was a bit afraid and on the drive to Fort Collins from Estes Park took a lot of convincing it would be fun and very safe. At the rafting company headquarters, all decked out in wet suits and ready to go, we congregated outside for the final set of instructions. →

In the photo, Emily and I are in the back, my father is front right.  In front of me on the left, my daughter, Amy, my niece, Keli. Behind my father, my niece, Carolyn, sister, Lee Ann.

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The speaker, one of the guides, started with these words: “When you fall out of the boat…”

Emily heard no more. Totally freaked, she headed toward the changing rooms, feeling tricked and betrayed.