After we decided to commit to an exclusive relationship we went to visit my father in Asia. Mike intended to ask my father for my hand in marriage. It was done and accepted. My father paid for us to take a trip to Bali and also ensured that we had lovely wedding portraits for when we have our wedding in the states. It was a great trip and I was very excited for Mike to meet my father and see where I had been living for the last year. He also got to meet my extended family in Asia as well as my siblings. I think what shocked Mike the most was the traffic in Jakarta. Many people living in poverty ask for money by walking through traffic begging. There is also many cars that struggle to just find room on the highway.
A few weeks back we were in a rafting accident and I swore the man was dead. It was about nine of us on the raft going down the Sacramento river. I had drank a few cups of wine so I was relatively relaxed on the river. The current got stronger during one point and the rafts thrashed around quite a bit and a small BBQ pit landed on my lap. While struggling to get it off of me I was thrown into the river. I desperately struggled to get back onto my raft, and luckily I succeeded. It was a mellow cruise from there until we hit even harder rapids. The problem was that we had used a rope to link about 6-7 cheap rafts together, so the entire thing was very unstable. As the rapids got harder, we drew closer to this island in the middle of the river. Tree branches rose from the water, ripping at the rafts. The strong current along with the strong rapids threw our rafts into the island. I heard Mike yell and I looked back and he was thrown from his doughnut. The rest of the crew landed safe and we worked to pull ourselves onto the island. Mike was still no where and sight and due to the condition of the waters, we grew concerned. I remember looking across the water and sizing it up to see if I could possibly swim across and get help. I knew I would not make it and no one else was willing to put their lives at risk either. So it looked like we would just stay there until the rangers found us and got us help. Being that it was summer we were lucky enough to get sighted. Myself and Brittany were pretty much in tears for fear that Mike was in danger. Well it turned out we were resuced and there was approximately 4 news crews there to see us and film the incident. They made me look like an idiot on Television. The story showed the newscaster telling me "You are NOT going to win this arguement!" I was stunned because I had no idea what he was talking about but it looked like he was implying we were in some sort of debate before the cameras came on.
Mike was actually rescued before we were. He swam to shore but on the opposite side of where he needed to be. Overall, we ended up being okay. Least now we know even the adults need life jackets. Unfortunately, the next day a man who was trying to get his horse to cross the water ended up dying in the same area....
