Today was the final day of summer vacation. Tomorrow Payton starts first grade. Logan starts preschool soon. We figured it would be fun to do something, especially since it is our anniversary. We went to Ohiopyle for the day.
We started at Cucumber Falls, walking up to the falls, playing in water, climbing over rocks, Samson came with us, and he loved jumping in the water. Payton and I walked through the river from the falls to the river. Lindsey and Logan did not make it the whole way down, he was being a bit of a goober. After a while, we had enough and Payton really wanted to go to the natural slides.
This is where things got scary. The natural slides are just some shallow rapids with very smooth stone from years of erosion. Payton and Lindsey walked to the top to check it out. Logan and I waited toward the slower pool where it seemed everyone was stopping. It was mostly older teens and 20somethings going down the slide. But there was also a boy, probably 9 or 10, who was just a little bigger than Payton. He used his feet to slow himself down at points and was able to stand up once he hit the slower pool.
From where we were sitting, it looked like Payton was not going to do it. She seemed scared, but after a few minutes, she changed her mind and decided to do it. My thinking was she would go down, then just put her feet down and climb out. Well watch and allow me to tell you what happened.
The first part she goes under and seems like she might be ready to climb out. Then she changes her mind and goes for the second part. I thought she was having fun, but as you can see at the end of the video, her face was panic and fear.
I jumped up and handed Samson’s leash to some girl that was nearby and said “can you watch my dog?” She said yeah, not that I gave her a choice, as soon as she took the leash, I was sprinting. My goal was to get past her, jump in the water and pull her out.
When I got to the part where we would intersect, the water was much faster and she flew past me. The whole time she was screaming “daddy, help!” I had no clue what was further down, but I knew jumping in the water would be stupid. I would not be able to catch her that way. Instead, I scrambled up the rocks and started running. I got down to the next part ahead of her, but a woman was there and she heard Payton screaming and as I was running I heard her say “oh my god, that’s a little girl!” She ran into the water and grabbed Payton as she came past.
It is easy to forget how small Payton is, but seeing her not be strong enough, or heavy enough to stop that current was terrifying. I am not going to lie, when she zoomed past me, I was scared. I kept envisioning her hitting her head off the rocks, or not holding her breath underwater because of panic, and then drowning. I do not know if I have ever been so scared.
As we walked back up to where Samson and Logan were (yep, I just left him sitting there, I figured Lindsey would make her way down to him), Payton was bawling. She kept saying she never wanted to do that again, and that she should not have done it. I am an idiot for not getting in the water to catch her as she finished. I honestly did not think she would go down, then I did not think she would go the whole way. Or be unable to control herself.
After that ordeal, we decided to get something to eat and head home. At least she has a fun story for the kids at school on her first day.
