Chapter One: In The Beginning...

Date: July 10, 1994 Location: Buffalo River, somewhere near Linden, Tennessee

It was my first visit to see my aunt, uncle, and grandmother since my grandfather had passed away that February, and a year to the day after my mother told us she was leaving. My sister and I flew up to Tennessee shortly after school had let out for the summer, and my father came up to join us for a few days before returning to Texas. This was our summer tradition just about every year, although before my grandfather passed on, my sister and I would take a road trip with our grandparents and their travel trailer bound for Rhinebeck, New York. This was the first year we weren't able to make the journey. Instead, we loaded up in my grandmother's van and headed for the Buffalo River for the day...something to take our minds off of everything and enjoy nature for a while.

This was the second time my sister and I had been down the Buffalo in a canoe. The first was uneventful but fun...I only wish I could say the same about this trip. It started off just fine. My aunt, uncle, and grandmother took one canoe. My sister and father joined me in the second. We started off down the river with an ice chest full of beer and soda. I sat in the front of the canoe to steer for a while and started to enjoy myself. After taking a break to eat some lunch, my sister insisted that she get to sit up front and take a paddle for a while. This would have been fine if the canoe had 3 benches to sit on or if I happened to be a little shorter. I had to sit in the middle with my legs stretched out under the crossbars. This was Big Mistake #1.

After another hour or so, we came to a spot in the river that would change my life completely. A tree was hanging down into the river, covering all but a three foot gap on the left side. My aunt, who is amazing with anything that works on the water, navigated it perfectly and didn't even brush the tree limbs. We were just behind them and attempted to hit that same spot...but our inexperience got the best of us and we went straight into the tree branches. My sister started moving from side to side trying to dodge the larger branches, and my father (in the back) tried to counter her movements to keep us from flipping the canoe. I sat in the middle and just tried not to move.

Sure enough, the canoe flipped, sending all of us underwater. Since they were on the bench seats, my father and sister were clear of the capsized canoe within a few seconds. My legs were caught under the crossbar and I was stuck underwater, fighting to break free. My hands found the sides of the canoe and I tried to push off, but my legs weren't entirely free yet. The right leg came free first, and apparently the survival instinct kicked in and I put every ounce of strength I had into getting my left leg out. I was more worried about breathing than anything else, so I finally surfaced and gasped for air, not really paying attention to the pain in my hips and lower back. After I caught my breath, I helped to get the canoe upright so we could all get back in and I noticed that a leech had attached itself to my leg while I was out of the canoe. Naturally, being 13 at the time, I freaked out...but my father pulled it off and suggested I check *elsewhere* just in case...no more leeches, thankfully!

After a few good laughs from my aunt, who saw the whole thing, we continued on down the river. It wasn't until we returned to the house that night that my aunt noticed I was limping. I told her how much I had struggled to get out of the canoe and that my back and hips had been hurting ever since. She wasn't sure what to make of it at the time, so I just kept on limping because I knew no other way to walk.

It wasn't until a year later, after much teasing at school, that I would find out what had actually happened. The pain had transferred to my right knee over time and I assumed that the real problem was there. None of the doctors could find anything wrong with my knee, but a friend from the bowling alley suggested that I go see the chiropractor that she worked with. This would turn out to be Big Mistake #2...

To be continued...I'm copying these over from MySpace one at a time and making a few minor edits.

Justin