DO NOT TRY TO CONTROL YOUR LIFE

PICTURE THIS...IF YOU WILL..

6:17 A.M., August 8, 2006...

Alone,

in a secluded wilderness area in the Rocky Mountains...

No town for over forty miles....

No power, electricity, or even cell phone service..

No communication of any form...

and no one else for miles around...

Not even a "road" for four...

A small canvas tent set up near the treeline...

about sixty yards from the sofly, soothing sounds of the passing river....

Stands alone...

like a sentinel guarding the gates to the forest...

The faded old orange canvas and nylon tent, with it's one old bent pole,

had both the back...mosquito netting window,

and the outside "door" covering,

both fully open...to let in the cool night breeze to refresh the tent...and all it held inside,

from what had been a scorcher for the two previous days.

Squirrels chatter back and forth...

like officers directing their men where to find the "nuts"...

Two magpies screech at each other as they search through the remains of last nights fire....

A flock of geese flying..in their ever changing "V"...

the leaders honking their need to relax at the rear of the back end of the line...

fly low ...

below the low hanging, ominous grey clouds...

a Young doe...peeks her head from the tree line, about forty yards away...

than slowly leads her two fawns to drink at the river..

When the soft, soothing sigh of a gentle breeze is broken by the metal sound of the zipper on the "door" of the tent..

as it slowly opens...

Out steps a young man, naked,

Head first, as he quietly tries to sneak out for a much need pee..

Only to step into......

SNOW

Shocked,

not only by the cold wetness under his foot...he almosts slips...grabbing onto...yes...

the old bent pole...

Then,

emerging into a new scenario....

like a strange new dimension in THE OUTER LIMITS..

or THE TWILIGHT ZONE...

He steps out into the light, refreshing breeze...

his mouth agape at the scene all around...

and under,

him....

He takes a deep breathe...

and after another quick view of the entire area,

Smiles...

Then he turns back to the tent and says:

Cary, honey...

Wake up....

you are not going to believe this...

just give me 5 to take a piss....

and them come on out here...

oh...and you better come dressed

A few minutes later, Eric,

having finished his morning "ablution",

stands waiting outside of the tent...

The moment Cary started out of the tent..he grabbed her hand, and tells her...

Close your eyes..no really... close them...it's not a trick...

I just want you to see something...

So he guides her off the mat, and stands right beside her...

not letting go of her hand.....

OK....open your eyes...

She did...and almost paled....

Honey,..is that snow?...

where could all this snow come from overnight...

this is August in Alberta?

Yesterday we were lying on a sleeping bag, naked, reading down by the river...doing everything we could to cool off...

and you can't even swim....

We went to bed...at what...3--4?

this....this, is crazy....I have never ever heard of this before...there must be three inches of snow on everything...when or how did this happen?

Don't know....

I slept real good......

for the rest of the night, thank you...

and when I woke up I really had to squirt....and I stepped right into it..I wasn't even looking...

and no...I have lived here all my life and I have never heard of it either....it never even woke me up...I was just as surprised as you are...

maybe not as mad...

And, I CAN swim..just not very good...so I don't like to go in over my head...I just dunk to cool off...

Or I swim on my back....

besides...if I wanted to swim..

I wouldn't have brought the canoe...

or just stayed in the city and go to the YMCA...

I am not mad...

I just can't figure out what is happening....

What are we gonna do...

the truck is 4 miles away...all our stuff must be soaked...

So what?

It's a beautiful...

well if the clouds go away...

it will be a beautiful day....

It's warm, no wind....and the birds are singing...

You call that horrible screeching singing?

You even sounded better when you were drunk last night...

BUT..

If I hear "Ghost Riders in the Sky"..one more time...I swear...I am going to leave you...

Girl...

C'mon....

you know my family never lets me sing anything else....

and this just to get a good laugh at my singing...

out here...

Well...it's my singing....

or the magpies...

No, Cary..

Think for a sec, honey...

This snow will be gone in hours...our stuff out here will dry..it is all All Weather gear....and nothing in the tent was wet...

He bends over,

makes a soft, but huge, snowball....

IF YOU THROW THAT AT ME.....

Of course he does....

And then grabs her and rolls around in the snow with her...

both of them laughing and giggling....like the kids they were ten years ago...

Being naked did not seem to bother him...

In fact he did his best to curl his body all around her...

LET ME GO...YOU BIG BULLY....

No, I am serious, what are we going to do?

What if it starts again...look at the clouds...

So what...

we can always find something to do in the tent until it is all gone.....

No really, what?...

Pack up our wet stuff...and haul it back to the truck...

three times...?

We been planning this long weekend for a month...

Please don't let a little temporary bad weather destroy this ....

We have both been working so hard lately...

and with the baby coming....

and for sure we won't get another chance to do it again this year..

PLEASE

It's not cold..or I could start a fire...

We have lawn chairs..

they're not wet...

Tell you what....

Why don't you grab a beer...

and I will make breakfast......

A BEER...A BLOODY BEER...

That's your solution?

No...c'mon girl...

I'm just saying...it ain't so bad...

It will be just a wonderful memory soon....

think of what we can tell everyone back home?

A WONDERFUL MEMORY?....

HAVE YOU LOST YOUR GOD DAMNED MIND?

This is not a memory...if anything...it is a nightmare...what am I supposed to do now?

What do you mean?

Well, I didn't bring much warm clothes,

how can I bathe in the river now?

Wash my hair?

and what about going into town to get some ice, and batteries for your old boom box...or no tunes today,

and stuff?

Honey,

We can do all that stuff later....

I promise...

I will take you into town this afternoon

WHAT WOULD YOU DO NEXT?