To read part three of day six, click here.

I could see the girls talking to the guy as I started gathering all the water bottles. We needed to get them from the various tables and bring them to the table near the canoes. Bobby came over to help me.

“You doing ok?”

I bit my lip, trying not to cry. It was bad enough that some of the girls had seen me cry. I didn’t know what they had told the guys, but it was probably something like “Brett’s freaking out, so be nice to her”.

“Yeah, Bobby, I’m doing ok.”

He laughed. “Now that you’ve said you’re fine, how are you really doing?” He grinned at me, and I knew he wasn’t going to listen to me if I said I was fine. So, I told him the truth.

“Not good. I’m scared to death of the river, and I don’t want to do this. I’m scared that when I flip I’m not going to be able to get out from under the canoe, I’m scared that”

He cut me off. “You know you’re going to be fine, right? You were doing amazing on the lake yesterday, you will do great on the river today.”

I wanted to believe him, but I couldn’t. I told him thanks, and I really meant it. Bobby always did his best to cheer people up, and while he couldn’t take away my fear of the water, he could make me forget it until we actually got on the water.

Bobby and I finished gathering all of the things we would need to take with us, and put the rest away. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back I saw Jen talking to Bobby and Bruce. I hurried over to where the stuff was and worked on packing it.

Jen came over to me and told me that I was going to be partnered with Bruce that day. I don’t know how to describe the emotions I felt then -I think it was a mixture of relief and fear.

I was still scared of the river. But at that point in time, I trusted Bruce more than any of my crewmates. He was the one who had helped me on the ladders, he had helped me carry some of my weight, and he was with the group who hopped Ben down the mountain.

So yeah, if I had to go on the river, I was glad that Bruce was going to be in the canoe with me. When we flipped he would be strong enough to take a lot of the canoes weight, (What? They were heavy!) so that we could actually get back to shore.

At least, that was what I was telling myself. I was hoping that it would stop me from freaking out.

Let’s just say that it didn’t work.

Click here to read the next part of Day Six.

*Everything here is from my own memory and may not be correct. Outward Bound is not responsible for anything I post here. Thanks too NCOBS for letting me use their photos.*